[{"article_number":"10511","date_created":"2025-01-27T11:28:05Z","article_processing_charge":"Yes","project":[{"call_identifier":"H2020","name":"Epidemics in ant societies on a chip","grant_number":"771402","_id":"2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"_id":"B67AFEDC-15C9-11EA-A837-991A96BB2854","name":"IST Austria Open Access Fund"}],"OA_place":"publisher","publisher":"Springer Nature","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","file_date_updated":"2025-12-15T13:30:33Z","ec_funded":1,"external_id":{"pmid":["41330896"]},"fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2041-1723"]},"type":"journal_article","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."}],"scopus_import":"1","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.27.582277"}],"publication":"Nature Communications","PlanS_conform":"1","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode"},"intvolume":"        16","pmid":1,"file":[{"success":1,"access_level":"open_access","date_created":"2025-12-15T13:30:33Z","file_size":805323,"checksum":"06244623bb7611c636652ecbc4787889","content_type":"application/pdf","creator":"dernst","file_id":"20826","file_name":"2025_NatureComm_Dawson.pdf","relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2025-12-15T13:30:33Z"}],"related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","relation":"research_data","id":"20471"}],"link":[{"url":"https://ista.ac.at/en/news/ants-signal-deadly-infection/","relation":"press_release","description":"News on ISTA website"}]},"day":"01","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"LifeSc"},{"_id":"MassSpec"}],"OA_type":"gold","corr_author":"1","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","year":"2025","quality_controlled":"1","oa_version":"Published Version","volume":16,"has_accepted_license":"1","oa":1,"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"ddc":["570"],"publication_status":"published","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"article_type":"original","title":"Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies","doi":"10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z","month":"12","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>","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.","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>.","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).","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>","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>.","ieee":"E. Dawson <i>et al.</i>, “Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies,” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 16. Springer Nature, 2025."},"DOAJ_listed":"1","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.","date_updated":"2026-06-10T08:50:53Z","date_published":"2025-12-01T00:00:00Z","_id":"18892","APC_amount":"7068 EUR","author":[{"id":"31B4E2D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Erika","full_name":"Dawson, Erika","last_name":"Dawson"},{"last_name":"Hönigsberger","full_name":"Hönigsberger, Michaela","id":"953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60","first_name":"Michaela"},{"last_name":"Kampleitner","full_name":"Kampleitner, Niklas","first_name":"Niklas","id":"2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"full_name":"Grasse, Anna V","first_name":"Anna V","id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Grasse"},{"last_name":"Lindorfer","id":"85f0e6d3-06b3-11ec-8982-8c5049fa4455","first_name":"Lukas","full_name":"Lindorfer, Lukas"},{"last_name":"Robb","id":"7bc2734a-e2c6-11ea-9824-a2ed5f0662a8","first_name":"Jennifer","full_name":"Robb, Jennifer"},{"last_name":"Beikzadeh Abbasi","full_name":"Beikzadeh Abbasi, Farnaz","first_name":"Farnaz","id":"0344bfb9-3feb-11ee-87e9-c27edc800bcd"},{"last_name":"Strahodinsky","id":"979E35EE-C996-11E9-8C7C-CF13E6697425","first_name":"Florian","full_name":"Strahodinsky, Florian"},{"first_name":"Hanna","id":"8fc5c6f6-5903-11ec-abad-c83f046253e7","full_name":"Leitner, Hanna","last_name":"Leitner"},{"full_name":"Rajendran, Harikrishnan","first_name":"Harikrishnan","id":"876b6b34-8ff4-11ec-97c9-8d95a7aae416","last_name":"Rajendran"},{"last_name":"Schmitt","full_name":"Schmitt, Thomas","first_name":"Thomas"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"}]},{"publication_status":"published","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"volume":22,"isi":1,"oa_version":"None","quality_controlled":"1","year":"2025","author":[{"first_name":"Oran","full_name":"Ayalon, Oran","last_name":"Ayalon"},{"full_name":"Rajendran, Harikrishnan","id":"876b6b34-8ff4-11ec-97c9-8d95a7aae416","first_name":"Harikrishnan","last_name":"Rajendran"}],"_id":"20219","date_published":"2025-08-13T00:00:00Z","issue":"229","acknowledgement":"We acknowledge Prof. Uri Alon for introducing us to the topic of systems biology during the graduate course at the Weizmann Institute of Science, whose insights and teachings have greatly inspired this work.","date_updated":"2026-08-12T14:09:20Z","status":"public","citation":{"ieee":"O. Ayalon and H. Rajendran, “Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects,” <i>Journal of the Royal Society Interface</i>, vol. 22, no. 229. Royal Society, 2025.","chicago":"Ayalon, Oran, and Harikrishnan Rajendran. “Interplay of Asexual and Sexual Reproduction in Bifunctional Insects.” <i>Journal of the Royal Society Interface</i>. Royal Society, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202</a>.","ama":"Ayalon O, Rajendran H. Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects. <i>Journal of the Royal Society Interface</i>. 2025;22(229). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202\">10.1098/rsif.2025.0202</a>","ista":"Ayalon O, Rajendran H. 2025. Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 22(229), 20250202.","short":"O. Ayalon, H. Rajendran, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 22 (2025).","apa":"Ayalon, O., &#38; Rajendran, H. (2025). Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects. <i>Journal of the Royal Society Interface</i>. Royal Society. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202</a>","mla":"Ayalon, Oran, and Harikrishnan Rajendran. “Interplay of Asexual and Sexual Reproduction in Bifunctional Insects.” <i>Journal of the Royal Society Interface</i>, vol. 22, no. 229, 20250202, Royal Society, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202\">10.1098/rsif.2025.0202</a>."},"month":"08","doi":"10.1098/rsif.2025.0202","title":"Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects","article_type":"original","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"scopus_import":"1","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Reproduction is a fundamental biological process, with organisms reproducing sexually, asexually, and, in some cases, utilizing both modes of reproduction within the same population. Does the ability to reproduce through a combination of asexual and sexual modes offer an evolutionary advantage over relying on either mode alone? Here, we introduce an empirically driven theoretical model to examine the dynamics and interplay between sexual and asexual reproduction in stick insect populations. We analyse it using a novel phase transition approach and corroborate it using published experimental data. We find that the presence of males can either increase or decrease the overall population size. However, maintaining an optimal ratio of parthenogenetic to sexual reproduction is crucial for male resilience, effectively delaying male extinction. Conversely, extreme levels of parthenogenetic reproduction—whether too high or too low—can lead to male extinction, emphasizing the need for a balanced number of virgin females to ensure the persistence of males. Our model also explains male absence in Carausius morosus and persistence in Extatosoma tiaratum. Our findings provide valuable insights into the interplay of reproductive strategies and contribute to broader discussions on the transitions between sexual and asexual reproduction."}],"type":"journal_article","external_id":{"pmid":["40799050"],"isi":["001548084900001"]},"fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2025.0202","publication_identifier":{"issn":["1742-5689"],"eissn":["1742-5662"]},"publisher":"Royal Society","article_processing_charge":"No","date_created":"2025-08-24T22:01:30Z","article_number":"20250202","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","OA_type":"closed access","corr_author":"1","day":"13","pmid":1,"intvolume":"        22","publication":"Journal of the Royal Society Interface"}]