[{"corr_author":"1","oa_version":"Published Version","year":"2025","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/","day":"16","date_updated":"2026-06-10T08:50:53Z","tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)"},"status":"public","acknowledgement":"We thank Joergen Eilenberg and Nicolai V. Meyling for the fungal strain, and the ISTA Social Immunity team, Jonghyun Park and Yuko Ulrich for ant collection. We also thank the Social Immunity team, in particular David Moreno Martínez, Tanvi Madaan, Wilfrid Jean Louis and Jessica Kirchner, for experimental and molecular support, as well as Friedrich Fochler for technical support with the chemical analysis, and the ISTA Lab Support Facility, including the mass spectrometry unit, for general and chemical laboratory support. We further thank Marco Ribezzi for advice on 13C calculations and Ernst Pittenauer for discussion of the chemical data, Chris Pull and Michael Sixt for project discussion and the Social Immunity team for comments on the manuscript. The study was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation Programme (No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP) to SC. ","month":"10","publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","doi":"10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471","oa":1,"type":"research_data","_id":"20471","abstract":[{"text":"Sick individuals often conceal their disease status to group members, thereby preventing social exclusion or aggression. Here we show by behavioural, chemical, immunological and infection load analyses that sick ant pupae instead actively emit a chemical signal that in itself is sufficient to trigger their own destruction by colony members. In our experiments, this altruistic disease-signalling was performed only by worker but not queen pupae. The lack of signalling by queen pupae did not constitute cheating behaviour, but reflected their superior immune capabilities. Worker pupae suffered from extensive pathogen replication whereas queen pupae were able to restrain their infection. Our data suggest the evolution of a finely-tuned signalling system in which it is not the induction of an individual’s immune response, but rather its failure to overcome the infection, that triggers pupal signalling for sacrifice. This demonstrates a balanced interplay between individual and social immunity that efficiently achieves whole-colony health. ","lang":"eng"}],"file_date_updated":"2025-10-16T08:52:26Z","keyword":["host-parasite interactions","social insects","social immunity","chemical communication","cooperation"],"ec_funded":1,"citation":{"apa":"Cremer, S. (2025). Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471</a>","chicago":"Cremer, Sylvia. “Altruistic Disease Signalling in Ant Colonies.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471</a>.","ista":"Cremer S. 2025. Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471</a>.","short":"S. Cremer, (2025).","mla":"Cremer, Sylvia. <i>Altruistic Disease Signalling in Ant Colonies</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471</a>.","ama":"Cremer S. Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies. 2025. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471</a>","ieee":"S. Cremer, “Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025."},"article_processing_charge":"No","date_published":"2025-10-16T00:00:00Z","file":[{"date_created":"2025-10-16T08:52:07Z","relation":"main_file","file_id":"20474","date_updated":"2025-10-16T08:52:07Z","access_level":"open_access","file_name":"Dawson_etal_README.txt","creator":"scremer","file_size":620,"content_type":"text/plain","success":1,"checksum":"01fbc46af38c4f72970fe2865d47a29b"},{"file_id":"20475","date_created":"2025-10-16T08:52:12Z","relation":"main_file","access_level":"open_access","date_updated":"2025-10-16T08:52:12Z","file_name":"Dawson_etal_Mass_Spectra.pdf","success":1,"checksum":"c3cfd7659e6fd4a6f4397ca5cd3318e7","file_size":942172,"creator":"scremer","content_type":"application/pdf"},{"file_name":"Dawson_etal_Peak_Areas.xlsx","success":1,"checksum":"e5ff8e8fdf2520d18d9f1d11c60c1117","creator":"scremer","content_type":"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet","file_size":582129,"file_id":"20476","relation":"main_file","date_created":"2025-10-16T08:52:26Z","access_level":"open_access","date_updated":"2025-10-16T08:52:26Z"}],"related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"18892","relation":"used_in_publication"}]},"title":"Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies","author":[{"full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","last_name":"Cremer","first_name":"Sylvia"}],"user_id":"68b8ca59-c5b3-11ee-8790-cd641c68093d","date_created":"2025-10-16T09:02:16Z","project":[{"_id":"2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"771402","name":"Epidemics in ant societies on a chip","call_identifier":"H2020"}],"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"contributor":[{"last_name":"Dawson","first_name":"Erika","id":"31B4E2D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"last_name":"Hönigsberger","first_name":"Michaela","id":"953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60"},{"id":"2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Niklas","last_name":"Kampleitner"},{"id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Anna V","last_name":"Grasse"},{"last_name":"Lindorfer","first_name":"Lukas","id":"85f0e6d3-06b3-11ec-8982-8c5049fa4455"},{"first_name":"Jennifer","last_name":"Robb","id":"7bc2734a-e2c6-11ea-9824-a2ed5f0662a8"},{"id":"0344bfb9-3feb-11ee-87e9-c27edc800bcd","last_name":"Beikzadeh Abbasi","first_name":"Farnaz"},{"id":"979E35EE-C996-11E9-8C7C-CF13E6697425","first_name":"Florian","last_name":"Strahodinsky"},{"last_name":"Leitner","first_name":"Hanna","id":"8fc5c6f6-5903-11ec-abad-c83f046253e7"},{"last_name":"Rajendran","first_name":"Harikrishnan","id":"876b6b34-8ff4-11ec-97c9-8d95a7aae416"},{"last_name":"Schmitt","first_name":"Thomas"},{"id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","ddc":["570"]},{"date_updated":"2025-04-15T06:44:30Z","tmp":{"image":"/images/cc_by_nc.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY-NC (4.0)"},"status":"public","acknowledgement":"This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP) to SC, from the Scientific Grant Agency of the Slovak Republic (Grant No. 1/0521/20) to KB, and the Human Frontier Science Program (Grant No. RGP0065/2012) to GT.","month":"05","oa_version":"None","corr_author":"1","day":"12","year":"2023","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"author":[{"id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","first_name":"Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868"}],"user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","date_created":"2023-05-11T21:35:17Z","related_material":{"record":[{"relation":"used_in_publication","id":"13127","status":"public"}]},"file":[{"date_updated":"2023-05-12T08:04:04Z","access_level":"open_access","file_id":"12947","date_created":"2023-05-12T08:04:04Z","relation":"main_file","content_type":"application/zip","creator":"scremer","file_size":3414674,"checksum":"3eadf17fd59ad8c98bf10bf63061863c","success":1,"file_name":"Experimental_data.zip"},{"relation":"main_file","date_created":"2023-05-12T08:04:08Z","file_id":"12948","access_level":"open_access","date_updated":"2023-05-12T08:04:08Z","file_name":"README_Experimental_Data.md","checksum":"1b5e8e01a0989154a76b44e6d8d68f89","success":1,"creator":"scremer","content_type":"application/octet-stream","file_size":2113}],"title":"Data from: \"Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants\" ","ddc":["570"],"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"contributor":[{"last_name":"Casillas Perez","first_name":"Barbara E","contributor_type":"data_collector","id":"351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Anna V","last_name":"Grasse","contributor_type":"data_collector"},{"first_name":"Katarina","last_name":"Bodova","contributor_type":"researcher"},{"id":"3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-6699-1455","contributor_type":"supervisor","first_name":"Gašper","last_name":"Tkačik"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","type":"research_data","doi":"10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945","publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","oa":1,"citation":{"chicago":"Cremer, Sylvia. “Data from: ‘Dynamic Pathogen Detection and Social Feedback Shape Collective Hygiene in Ants’ .” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945</a>.","apa":"Cremer, S. (2023). Data from: “Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants” . Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945</a>","short":"S. Cremer, (2023).","ista":"Cremer S. 2023. Data from: ‘Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants’ , Institute of Science and Technology Austria, <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945\">10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945</a>.","ama":"Cremer S. Data from: “Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants” . 2023. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945\">10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945</a>","mla":"Cremer, Sylvia. <i>Data from: “Dynamic Pathogen Detection and Social Feedback Shape Collective Hygiene in Ants” </i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945\">10.15479/AT:ISTA:12945</a>.","ieee":"S. Cremer, “Data from: ‘Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants’ .” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2023."},"article_processing_charge":"No","date_published":"2023-05-12T00:00:00Z","_id":"12945","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"basic data for use in code for experimental data analysis for manuscript under revision: \r\nDynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants\r\nCasillas-Pérez B, Boďová K, Grasse AV, Tkačik G, Cremer S"}],"file_date_updated":"2023-05-12T08:04:08Z","keyword":["collective behavior","host-pathogen interactions","social immunity","epidemiology","social insects","probabilistic modeling"]},{"title":"Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen","OA_place":"publisher","file":[{"date_updated":"2021-02-11T11:17:15Z","access_level":"open_access","embargo":"2020-05-08","date_created":"2019-05-13T09:16:20Z","file_id":"6438","relation":"main_file","file_size":3895187,"content_type":"application/pdf","creator":"casillas","checksum":"6daf2d2086111aa8fd3fbc919a3e2833","file_name":"tesisDoctoradoBC.pdf"},{"file_name":"tesisDoctoradoBC.zip","file_size":7365118,"creator":"casillas","content_type":"application/zip","checksum":"3d221aaff7559a7060230a1ff610594f","embargo_to":"open_access","date_created":"2019-05-13T09:16:20Z","relation":"source_file","file_id":"6439","date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:47:30Z","access_level":"closed"}],"related_material":{"record":[{"relation":"part_of_dissertation","id":"1999","status":"public"}]},"date_created":"2019-05-13T08:58:35Z","alternative_title":["ISTA Thesis"],"project":[{"name":"Epidemics in ant societies on a chip","call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"771402","_id":"2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"}],"user_id":"ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd","author":[{"first_name":"Barbara E","last_name":"Casillas Perez","full_name":"Casillas Perez, Barbara E","id":"351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"ddc":["570","006","578","592"],"publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","oa":1,"doi":"10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435","publication_status":"published","type":"dissertation","keyword":["Social Immunity","Sanitary care","Social Insects","Organisational Immunity","Colony development","Multi-target tracking"],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Social insect colonies tend to have numerous members which function together like a single organism in such harmony that the term ``super-organism'' is often used. In this analogy the reproductive caste is analogous to the primordial germ\r\ncells of a metazoan, while the sterile worker caste corresponds to somatic cells. The worker castes, like tissues, are\r\nin charge of all functions of a living being, besides reproduction. The establishment of new super-organismal units\r\n(i.e. new colonies) is accomplished by the co-dependent castes. The term oftentimes goes beyond a metaphor. We invoke it when we speak about the metabolic rate, thermoregulation, nutrient regulation and gas exchange of a social insect colony. Furthermore, we assert that the super-organism has an immune system, and benefits from ``social immunity''.\r\n\r\nSocial immunity was first summoned by evolutionary biologists to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the expected high frequency of disease outbreak amongst numerous, closely related tightly-interacting hosts, living in stable and microbially-rich environments, against the exceptionally scarce epidemic accounts in natural populations. Social\r\nimmunity comprises a multi-layer assembly of behaviours which have evolved to effectively keep the pathogenic enemies of a colony at bay. The field of social immunity has drawn interest, as it becomes increasingly urgent to stop\r\nthe collapse of pollinator species and curb the growth of invasive pests. In the past decade, several mechanisms of\r\nsocial immune responses have been dissected, but many more questions remain open.\r\n\r\nI present my work in two experimental chapters. In the first, I use invasive garden ants (*Lasius neglectus*) to study how pathogen load and its distribution among nestmates affect the grooming response of the group. Any given group of ants will carry out the same total grooming work, but will direct their grooming effort towards individuals\r\ncarrying a relatively higher spore load. Contrary to expectation, the highest risk of transmission does not stem from grooming highly contaminated ants, but instead, we suggest that the grooming response likely minimizes spore loss to the environment, reducing contamination from inadvertent pickup from the substrate.\r\n\r\nThe second is a comparative developmental approach. I follow black garden ant queens (*Lasius niger*) and their colonies from mating flight, through hibernation for a year. Colonies which grow fast from the start, have a lower chance of survival through hibernation, and those which survive grow at a lower pace later. This is true for colonies of naive\r\nand challenged queens. Early pathogen exposure of the queens changes colony dynamics in an unexpected way: colonies from exposed queens are more likely to grow slowly and recover in numbers only after they survive hibernation.\r\n\r\nIn addition to the two experimental chapters, this thesis includes a co-authored published review on organisational\r\nimmunity, where we enlist the experimental evidence and theoretical framework on which this hypothesis is built,\r\nidentify the caveats and underline how the field is ripe to overcome them. In a final chapter, I describe my part in\r\ntwo collaborative efforts, one to develop an image-based tracker, and the second to develop a classifier for ant\r\nbehaviour."}],"file_date_updated":"2021-02-11T11:17:15Z","_id":"6435","article_processing_charge":"No","date_published":"2019-05-07T00:00:00Z","citation":{"apa":"Casillas Perez, B. E. (2019). <i>Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435</a>","chicago":"Casillas Perez, Barbara E. “Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against a Fungal Pathogen.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435</a>.","ista":"Casillas Perez BE. 2019. Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.","short":"B.E. Casillas Perez, Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against a Fungal Pathogen, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019.","mla":"Casillas Perez, Barbara E. <i>Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against a Fungal Pathogen</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435\">10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435</a>.","ama":"Casillas Perez BE. Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen. 2019. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435\">10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435</a>","ieee":"B. E. Casillas Perez, “Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019."},"ec_funded":1,"date_updated":"2026-04-08T14:02:12Z","supervisor":[{"id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia M","first_name":"Sylvia M","last_name":"Cremer","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868"}],"month":"05","status":"public","page":"183","corr_author":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"oa_version":"Published Version","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"ScienComp"},{"_id":"M-Shop"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"year":"2019","publication_identifier":{"issn":["2663-337X"]},"day":"07","degree_awarded":"PhD"}]