---
APC_amount: 7068 EUR
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: 2026-06-10T08:50:53Z
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
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  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2025-12-15T13:30:33Z
  date_updated: 2025-12-15T13:30:33Z
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  file_size: 805323
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  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
- _id: B67AFEDC-15C9-11EA-A837-991A96BB2854
  name: IST Austria Open Access Fund
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: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 16
year: '2025'
...
---
_id: '12543'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Treating sick group members is a hallmark of collective disease defence in
    vertebrates and invertebrates alike. Despite substantial effects on pathogen fitness
    and epidemiology, it is still largely unknown how pathogens react to the selection
    pressure imposed by care intervention. Using social insects and pathogenic fungi,
    we here performed a serial passage experiment in the presence or absence of colony
    members, which provide social immunity by grooming off infectious spores from
    exposed individuals. We found specific effects on pathogen diversity, virulence
    and transmission. Under selection of social immunity, pathogens invested into
    higher spore production, but spores were less virulent. Notably, they also elicited
    a lower grooming response in colony members, compared with spores from the individual
    host selection lines. Chemical spore analysis suggested that the spores from social
    selection lines escaped the caregivers’ detection by containing lower levels of
    ergosterol, a key fungal membrane component. Experimental application of chemically
    pure ergosterol indeed induced sanitary grooming, supporting its role as a microbe-associated
    cue triggering host social immunity against fungal pathogens. By reducing this
    detection cue, pathogens were able to evade the otherwise very effective collective
    disease defences of their social hosts.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: We thank B. M. Steinwender, N. V. Meyling and J. Eilenberg for the
  fungal strains; J. Anaya-Rojas for statistical advice; the Social Immunity team
  at ISTA for ant collection and experimental help, in particular H. Leitner, and
  the ISTA Lab Support Facility for general laboratory support; D. Ebert, H. Schulenburg
  and J. Heinze for continued project discussion; and M. Sixt, R. Roemhild and the
  Social Immunity team for comments on the manuscript. The study was funded by the
  German Research Foundation (CR118/3-1) within the Framework of the Priority Program
  SPP 1399, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon
  2020 Research and Innovation Programme (No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP), both to S.C.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Miriam
  full_name: Stock, Miriam
  id: 42462816-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Stock
- first_name: Barbara
  full_name: Milutinovic, Barbara
  id: 2CDC32B8-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Milutinovic
  orcid: 0000-0002-8214-4758
- first_name: Michaela
  full_name: Hönigsberger, Michaela
  id: 953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60
  last_name: Hönigsberger
- first_name: Anna V
  full_name: Grasse, Anna V
  id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Florian
  full_name: Wiesenhofer, Florian
  id: 39523C54-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Wiesenhofer
- first_name: Niklas
  full_name: Kampleitner, Niklas
  id: 2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Kampleitner
- first_name: Madhumitha
  full_name: Narasimhan, Madhumitha
  id: 44BF24D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Narasimhan
  orcid: 0000-0002-8600-0671
- 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: Stock M, Milutinovic B, Hönigsberger M, et al. Pathogen evasion of social immunity.
    <i>Nature Ecology and Evolution</i>. 2023;7:450-460. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>
  apa: Stock, M., Milutinovic, B., Hönigsberger, M., Grasse, A. V., Wiesenhofer, F.,
    Kampleitner, N., … Cremer, S. (2023). Pathogen evasion of social immunity. <i>Nature
    Ecology and Evolution</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>
  chicago: Stock, Miriam, Barbara Milutinovic, Michaela Hönigsberger, Anna V Grasse,
    Florian Wiesenhofer, Niklas Kampleitner, Madhumitha Narasimhan, Thomas Schmitt,
    and Sylvia Cremer. “Pathogen Evasion of Social Immunity.” <i>Nature Ecology and
    Evolution</i>. Springer Nature, 2023. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>.
  ieee: M. Stock <i>et al.</i>, “Pathogen evasion of social immunity,” <i>Nature Ecology
    and Evolution</i>, vol. 7. Springer Nature, pp. 450–460, 2023.
  ista: Stock M, Milutinovic B, Hönigsberger M, Grasse AV, Wiesenhofer F, Kampleitner
    N, Narasimhan M, Schmitt T, Cremer S. 2023. Pathogen evasion of social immunity.
    Nature Ecology and Evolution. 7, 450–460.
  mla: Stock, Miriam, et al. “Pathogen Evasion of Social Immunity.” <i>Nature Ecology
    and Evolution</i>, vol. 7, Springer Nature, 2023, pp. 450–60, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6">10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6</a>.
  short: M. Stock, B. Milutinovic, M. Hönigsberger, A.V. Grasse, F. Wiesenhofer, N.
    Kampleitner, M. Narasimhan, T. Schmitt, S. Cremer, Nature Ecology and Evolution
    7 (2023) 450–460.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2023-02-12T23:00:59Z
date_published: 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-04-14T07:47:53Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: JiFr
doi: 10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000924572800001'
  pmid:
  - '36732670'
file:
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  checksum: 8244f4650a0e7aeea488d1bcd4a31702
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
  date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
  file_id: '14069'
  file_name: 2023_NatureEcoEvo_Stock.pdf
  file_size: 1600499
  relation: main_file
  success: 1
file_date_updated: 2023-08-16T11:54:59Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         7'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 450-460
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '771402'
  name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
- _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  grant_number: CR-118/3-1
  name: Host-Parasite Coevolution
publication: Nature Ecology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2397-334X
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/how-sneaky-germs-hide-from-ants/
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Pathogen evasion of social immunity
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: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 7
year: '2023'
...