---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '18892'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  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.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: MassSpec
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.
article_number: '10511'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Erika
  full_name: Dawson, Erika
  id: 31B4E2D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Dawson
- first_name: Michaela
  full_name: Hönigsberger, Michaela
  id: 953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60
  last_name: Hönigsberger
- first_name: Niklas
  full_name: Kampleitner, Niklas
  id: 2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Kampleitner
- first_name: Anna V
  full_name: Grasse, Anna V
  id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Lukas
  full_name: Lindorfer, Lukas
  id: 85f0e6d3-06b3-11ec-8982-8c5049fa4455
  last_name: Lindorfer
- first_name: Jennifer
  full_name: Robb, Jennifer
  id: 7bc2734a-e2c6-11ea-9824-a2ed5f0662a8
  last_name: Robb
- first_name: Farnaz
  full_name: Beikzadeh Abbasi, Farnaz
  id: 0344bfb9-3feb-11ee-87e9-c27edc800bcd
  last_name: Beikzadeh Abbasi
- first_name: Florian
  full_name: Strahodinsky, Florian
  id: 979E35EE-C996-11E9-8C7C-CF13E6697425
  last_name: Strahodinsky
- first_name: Hanna
  full_name: Leitner, Hanna
  id: 8fc5c6f6-5903-11ec-abad-c83f046253e7
  last_name: Leitner
- first_name: Harikrishnan
  full_name: Rajendran, Harikrishnan
  id: 876b6b34-8ff4-11ec-97c9-8d95a7aae416
  last_name: Rajendran
- first_name: Thomas
  full_name: Schmitt, Thomas
  last_name: Schmitt
- first_name: Sylvia
  full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
  id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Cremer
  orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
  ama: Dawson E, Hönigsberger M, Kampleitner N, et al. Altruistic disease signalling
    in ant colonies. <i>Nature Communications</i>. 2025;16. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z">10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z</a>
  apa: Dawson, E., Hönigsberger, M., Kampleitner, N., Grasse, A. V., Lindorfer, L.,
    Robb, J., … Cremer, S. (2025). Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.
    <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z</a>
  chicago: Dawson, Erika, Michaela Hönigsberger, Niklas Kampleitner, Anna V Grasse,
    Lukas Lindorfer, Jennifer Robb, Farnaz Beikzadeh, et al. “Altruistic Disease Signalling
    in Ant Colonies.” <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z</a>.
  ieee: E. Dawson <i>et al.</i>, “Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies,”
    <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 16. Springer Nature, 2025.
  ista: Dawson E, Hönigsberger M, Kampleitner N, Grasse AV, Lindorfer L, Robb J, Beikzadeh
    F, Strahodinsky F, Leitner H, Rajendran H, Schmitt T, Cremer S. 2025. Altruistic
    disease signalling in ant colonies. Nature Communications. 16, 10511.
  mla: Dawson, Erika, et al. “Altruistic Disease Signalling in Ant Colonies.” <i>Nature
    Communications</i>, vol. 16, 10511, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z">10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z</a>.
  short: E. Dawson, M. Hönigsberger, N. Kampleitner, A.V. Grasse, L. Lindorfer, J.
    Robb, F. Beikzadeh, F. Strahodinsky, H. Leitner, H. Rajendran, T. Schmitt, S.
    Cremer, Nature Communications 16 (2025).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-01-27T11:28:05Z
date_published: 2025-12-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-28T12:57:04Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
- _id: LifeSc
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '41330896'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 06244623bb7611c636652ecbc4787889
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2025-12-15T13:30:33Z
  date_updated: 2025-12-15T13:30:33Z
  file_id: '20826'
  file_name: 2025_NatureComm_Dawson.pdf
  file_size: 805323
  relation: main_file
  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2025-12-15T13:30:33Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        16'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.27.582277
month: '12'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '771402'
  name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication: Nature Communications
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2041-1723
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  link:
  - description: News on ISTA website
    relation: press_release
    url: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/ants-signal-deadly-infection/
  record:
  - id: '20471'
    relation: research_data
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
volume: 16
year: '2025'
...