[{"acknowledgement":"This project was funded by two European Research Council Advanced Grants (Social Life, 249375, and resiliANT, 741491) and two Swiss National Science Foundation grants (CR32I3_141063 and 310030_156732) to L.K. and a European Research Council Starting Grant (SocialVaccines, 243071) to S.C.","oa":1,"doi":"10.1126/science.aat4793","project":[{"_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","grant_number":"243071","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"}],"article_type":"original","month":"11","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"volume":362,"author":[{"first_name":"Nathalie","full_name":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie","last_name":"Stroeymeyt"},{"last_name":"Grasse","full_name":"Grasse, Anna V","id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Anna V"},{"first_name":"Alessandro","last_name":"Crespi","full_name":"Crespi, Alessandro"},{"first_name":"Danielle","full_name":"Mersch, Danielle","last_name":"Mersch"},{"last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sylvia"},{"first_name":"Laurent","last_name":"Keller","full_name":"Keller, Laurent"}],"publisher":"AAAS","article_processing_charge":"No","related_material":{"link":[{"description":"News on IST Homepage","relation":"press_release","url":"https://ist.ac.at/en/news/for-ants-unity-is-strength-and-health/"}],"record":[{"status":"public","id":"13055","relation":"research_data"}]},"publist_id":"8049","publication_status":"published","publication_identifier":{"issn":["1095-9203"]},"oa_version":"Published Version","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:44:07Z","title":"Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect","isi":1,"date_updated":"2025-04-15T08:20:52Z","publication":"Science","page":"941 - 945","status":"public","scopus_import":"1","ec_funded":1,"issue":"6417","type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","_id":"7","abstract":[{"text":"Animal social networks are shaped by multiple selection pressures, including the need to ensure efficient communication and functioning while simultaneously limiting disease transmission. Social animals could potentially further reduce epidemic risk by altering their social networks in the presence of pathogens, yet there is currently no evidence for such pathogen-triggered responses. We tested this hypothesis experimentally in the ant Lasius niger using a combination of automated tracking, controlled pathogen exposure, transmission quantification, and temporally explicit simulations. Pathogen exposure induced behavioral changes in both exposed ants and their nestmates, which helped contain the disease by reinforcing key transmission-inhibitory properties of the colony's contact network. This suggests that social network plasticity in response to pathogens is an effective strategy for mitigating the effects of disease in social groups.","lang":"eng"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"external_id":{"isi":["000451124500041"]},"day":"23","citation":{"chicago":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie, Anna V Grasse, Alessandro Crespi, Danielle Mersch, Sylvia Cremer, and Laurent Keller. “Social Network Plasticity Decreases Disease Transmission in a Eusocial Insect.” <i>Science</i>. AAAS, 2018. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793\">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793</a>.","ista":"Stroeymeyt N, Grasse AV, Crespi A, Mersch D, Cremer S, Keller L. 2018. Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect. Science. 362(6417), 941–945.","ama":"Stroeymeyt N, Grasse AV, Crespi A, Mersch D, Cremer S, Keller L. Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect. <i>Science</i>. 2018;362(6417):941-945. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793\">10.1126/science.aat4793</a>","apa":"Stroeymeyt, N., Grasse, A. V., Crespi, A., Mersch, D., Cremer, S., &#38; Keller, L. (2018). Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect. <i>Science</i>. AAAS. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793\">https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793</a>","short":"N. Stroeymeyt, A.V. Grasse, A. Crespi, D. Mersch, S. Cremer, L. Keller, Science 362 (2018) 941–945.","ieee":"N. Stroeymeyt, A. V. Grasse, A. Crespi, D. Mersch, S. Cremer, and L. Keller, “Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect,” <i>Science</i>, vol. 362, no. 6417. AAAS, pp. 941–945, 2018.","mla":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie, et al. “Social Network Plasticity Decreases Disease Transmission in a Eusocial Insect.” <i>Science</i>, vol. 362, no. 6417, AAAS, 2018, pp. 941–45, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat4793\">10.1126/science.aat4793</a>."},"year":"2018","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","intvolume":"       362","main_file_link":[{"url":"https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_E9228C205467.P001/REF.pdf","open_access":"1"}],"date_published":"2018-11-23T00:00:00Z"},{"user_id":"c635000d-4b10-11ee-a964-aac5a93f6ac1","year":"2018","intvolume":"       115","main_file_link":[{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29463746","open_access":"1"}],"date_published":"2018-03-13T00:00:00Z","quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","external_id":{"pmid":["29463746"],"isi":["000427245400069"]},"_id":"413","abstract":[{"text":"Being cared for when sick is a benefit of sociality that can reduce disease and improve survival of group members. However, individuals providing care risk contracting infectious diseases themselves. If they contract a low pathogen dose, they may develop low-level infections that do not cause disease but still affect host immunity by either decreasing or increasing the host’s vulnerability to subsequent infections. Caring for contagious individuals can thus significantly alter the future disease susceptibility of caregivers. Using ants and their fungal pathogens as a model system, we tested if the altered disease susceptibility of experienced caregivers, in turn, affects their expression of sanitary care behavior. We found that low-level infections contracted during sanitary care had protective or neutral effects on secondary exposure to the same (homologous) pathogen but consistently caused high mortality on superinfection with a different (heterologous) pathogen. In response to this risk, the ants selectively adjusted the expression of their sanitary care. Specifically, the ants performed less grooming and more antimicrobial disinfection when caring for nestmates contaminated with heterologous pathogens compared with homologous ones. By modulating the components of sanitary care in this way the ants acquired less infectious particles of the heterologous pathogens, resulting in reduced superinfection. The performance of risk-adjusted sanitary care reveals the remarkable capacity of ants to react to changes in their disease susceptibility, according to their own infection history and to flexibly adjust collective care to individual risk.","lang":"eng"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"day":"13","citation":{"chicago":"Konrad, Matthias, Christopher Pull, Sina Metzler, Katharina Seif, Elisabeth Naderlinger, Anna V Grasse, and Sylvia Cremer. “Ants Avoid Superinfections by Performing Risk-Adjusted Sanitary Care.” <i>PNAS</i>. National Academy of Sciences, 2018. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115\">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115</a>.","ista":"Konrad M, Pull C, Metzler S, Seif K, Naderlinger E, Grasse AV, Cremer S. 2018. Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care. PNAS. 115(11), 2782–2787.","ama":"Konrad M, Pull C, Metzler S, et al. Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care. <i>PNAS</i>. 2018;115(11):2782-2787. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115\">10.1073/pnas.1713501115</a>","apa":"Konrad, M., Pull, C., Metzler, S., Seif, K., Naderlinger, E., Grasse, A. V., &#38; Cremer, S. (2018). Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care. <i>PNAS</i>. National Academy of Sciences. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115\">https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115</a>","ieee":"M. Konrad <i>et al.</i>, “Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care,” <i>PNAS</i>, vol. 115, no. 11. National Academy of Sciences, pp. 2782–2787, 2018.","short":"M. Konrad, C. Pull, S. Metzler, K. Seif, E. Naderlinger, A.V. Grasse, S. Cremer, PNAS 115 (2018) 2782–2787.","mla":"Konrad, Matthias, et al. “Ants Avoid Superinfections by Performing Risk-Adjusted Sanitary Care.” <i>PNAS</i>, vol. 115, no. 11, National Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp. 2782–87, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713501115\">10.1073/pnas.1713501115</a>."},"status":"public","page":"2782 - 2787","scopus_import":"1","issue":"11","ec_funded":1,"isi":1,"publication":"PNAS","date_updated":"2025-04-15T08:20:50Z","oa_version":"Published Version","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:46:20Z","title":"Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care","publication_status":"published","publist_id":"7416","publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","article_processing_charge":"No","corr_author":"1","related_material":{"link":[{"url":"https://ist.ac.at/en/news/helping-in-spite-of-risk-ants-perform-risk-averse-sanitary-care-of-infectious-nest-mates/","relation":"press_release","description":"News on IST Homepage"}]},"pmid":1,"oa":1,"doi":"10.1073/pnas.1713501115","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"03","project":[{"grant_number":"243071","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"}],"volume":115,"author":[{"id":"46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Matthias","full_name":"Konrad, Matthias","last_name":"Konrad"},{"last_name":"Pull","full_name":"Pull, Christopher","orcid":"0000-0003-1122-3982","id":"3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Christopher"},{"id":"48204546-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sina","orcid":"0000-0002-9547-2494","last_name":"Metzler","full_name":"Metzler, Sina"},{"first_name":"Katharina","id":"90F7894A-02CF-11E9-976E-E38CFE5CBC1D","full_name":"Seif, Katharina","last_name":"Seif"},{"last_name":"Naderlinger","full_name":"Naderlinger, Elisabeth","id":"31757262-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Elisabeth"},{"id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Anna V","last_name":"Grasse","full_name":"Grasse, Anna V"},{"full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"}]},{"ec_funded":1,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","scopus_import":"1","status":"public","publication":"eLife","date_updated":"2026-04-08T14:19:10Z","isi":1,"file_date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:47:20Z","date_published":"2018-01-09T00:00:00Z","intvolume":"         7","article_number":"e32073","year":"2018","ddc":["570","590"],"user_id":"c635000d-4b10-11ee-a964-aac5a93f6ac1","has_accepted_license":"1","citation":{"apa":"Pull, C., Ugelvig, L. V., Wiesenhofer, F., Grasse, A. V., Tragust, S., Schmitt, T., … Cremer, S. (2018). Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. <i>ELife</i>. eLife Sciences Publications. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073\">https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073</a>","mla":"Pull, Christopher, et al. “Destructive Disinfection of Infected Brood Prevents Systemic Disease Spread in Ant Colonies.” <i>ELife</i>, vol. 7, e32073, eLife Sciences Publications, 2018, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073\">10.7554/eLife.32073</a>.","short":"C. Pull, L.V. Ugelvig, F. Wiesenhofer, A.V. Grasse, S. Tragust, T. Schmitt, M. Brown, S. Cremer, ELife 7 (2018).","ieee":"C. Pull <i>et al.</i>, “Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies,” <i>eLife</i>, vol. 7. eLife Sciences Publications, 2018.","chicago":"Pull, Christopher, Line V Ugelvig, Florian Wiesenhofer, Anna V Grasse, Simon Tragust, Thomas Schmitt, Mark Brown, and Sylvia Cremer. “Destructive Disinfection of Infected Brood Prevents Systemic Disease Spread in Ant Colonies.” <i>ELife</i>. eLife Sciences Publications, 2018. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073\">https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073</a>.","ama":"Pull C, Ugelvig LV, Wiesenhofer F, et al. Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. <i>eLife</i>. 2018;7. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32073\">10.7554/eLife.32073</a>","ista":"Pull C, Ugelvig LV, Wiesenhofer F, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Schmitt T, Brown M, Cremer S. 2018. Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies. eLife. 7, e32073."},"day":"09","_id":"616","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Social insects protect their colonies from infectious disease through collective defences that result in social immunity. In ants, workers first try to prevent infection of colony members. Here, we show that if this fails and a pathogen establishes an infection, ants employ an efficient multicomponent behaviour − &quot;destructive disinfection&quot; − to prevent further spread of disease through the colony. Ants specifically target infected pupae during the pathogen's non-contagious incubation period, relying on chemical 'sickness cues' emitted by pupae. They then remove the pupal cocoon, perforate its cuticle and administer antimicrobial poison, which enters the body and prevents pathogen replication from the inside out. Like the immune system of a body that specifically targets and eliminates infected cells, this social immunity measure sacrifices infected brood to stop the pathogen completing its lifecycle, thus protecting the rest of the colony. Hence, the same principles of disease defence apply at different levels of biological organisation."}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"external_id":{"isi":["000419601300001"]},"type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","related_material":{"record":[{"relation":"dissertation_contains","status":"public","id":"819"}]},"tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","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)"},"corr_author":"1","article_processing_charge":"Yes","publisher":"eLife Sciences Publications","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0003-1122-3982","first_name":"Christopher","id":"3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Pull, Christopher","last_name":"Pull"},{"last_name":"Ugelvig","full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Line V","orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883"},{"first_name":"Florian","id":"39523C54-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Wiesenhofer, Florian","last_name":"Wiesenhofer"},{"first_name":"Anna V","id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Grasse","full_name":"Grasse, Anna V"},{"full_name":"Tragust, Simon","last_name":"Tragust","id":"35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Simon"},{"first_name":"Thomas","last_name":"Schmitt","full_name":"Schmitt, Thomas"},{"full_name":"Brown, Mark","last_name":"Brown","first_name":"Mark"},{"first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer"}],"volume":7,"project":[{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","grant_number":"243071","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7"},{"name":"Collective disease defence and pathogen detection abilities in ant societies: a chemo-neuro-immunological approach","_id":"25DDF0F0-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","grant_number":"302004"}],"month":"01","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"doi":"10.7554/eLife.32073","oa":1,"pubrep_id":"978","title":"Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:47:31Z","oa_version":"Published Version","file":[{"checksum":"540f941e8d3530a9441e4affd94f07d7","file_name":"IST-2018-978-v1+1_elife-32073-v1.pdf","relation":"main_file","creator":"system","date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:47:20Z","file_id":"4832","access_level":"open_access","content_type":"application/pdf","date_created":"2018-12-12T10:10:43Z","file_size":1435585}],"publist_id":"7188","publication_status":"published"},{"type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","_id":"732","abstract":[{"text":"Background: Social insects form densely crowded societies in environments with high pathogen loads, but have evolved collective defences that mitigate the impact of disease. However, colony-founding queens lack this protection and suffer high rates of mortality. The impact of pathogens may be exacerbated in species where queens found colonies together, as healthy individuals may contract pathogens from infectious co-founders. Therefore, we tested whether ant queens avoid founding colonies with pathogen-exposed conspecifics and how they might limit disease transmission from infectious individuals. Results: Using Lasius Niger queens and a naturally infecting fungal pathogen Metarhizium brunneum, we observed that queens were equally likely to found colonies with another pathogen-exposed or sham-treated queen. However, when one queen died, the surviving individual performed biting, burial and removal of the corpse. These undertaking behaviours were performed prophylactically, i.e. targeted equally towards non-infected and infected corpses, as well as carried out before infected corpses became infectious. Biting and burial reduced the risk of the queens contracting and dying from disease from an infectious corpse of a dead co-foundress. Conclusions: We show that co-founding ant queens express undertaking behaviours that, in mature colonies, are performed exclusively by workers. Such infection avoidance behaviours act before the queens can contract the disease and will therefore improve the overall chance of colony founding success in ant queens.","lang":"eng"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"external_id":{"isi":["000412816800001"]},"has_accepted_license":"1","day":"13","citation":{"apa":"Pull, C., &#38; Cremer, S. (2017). Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour. <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. BioMed Central. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4\">https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4</a>","mla":"Pull, Christopher, and Sylvia Cremer. “Co-Founding Ant Queens Prevent Disease by Performing Prophylactic Undertaking Behaviour.” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>, vol. 17, no. 1, 219, BioMed Central, 2017, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4\">10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4</a>.","ieee":"C. Pull and S. Cremer, “Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour,” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>, vol. 17, no. 1. BioMed Central, 2017.","short":"C. Pull, S. Cremer, BMC Evolutionary Biology 17 (2017).","chicago":"Pull, Christopher, and Sylvia Cremer. “Co-Founding Ant Queens Prevent Disease by Performing Prophylactic Undertaking Behaviour.” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. BioMed Central, 2017. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4\">https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4</a>.","ama":"Pull C, Cremer S. Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour. <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. 2017;17(1). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4\">10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4</a>","ista":"Pull C, Cremer S. 2017. Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17(1), 219."},"year":"2017","ddc":["576","592"],"user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","article_number":"219","intvolume":"        17","date_published":"2017-10-13T00:00:00Z","file_date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:47:55Z","isi":1,"publication":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","date_updated":"2026-04-08T14:19:10Z","status":"public","scopus_import":"1","issue":"1","ec_funded":1,"publist_id":"6937","publication_status":"published","file":[{"date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:47:55Z","file_id":"5271","creator":"system","relation":"main_file","checksum":"3e24a2cfd48f49f7b3643d08d30fb480","file_name":"IST-2017-882-v1+1_12862_2017_Article_1062.pdf","content_type":"application/pdf","date_created":"2018-12-12T10:17:18Z","file_size":949857,"access_level":"open_access"}],"publication_identifier":{"issn":["1471-2148"]},"oa_version":"Published Version","title":"Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:48:12Z","pubrep_id":"882","doi":"10.1186/s12862-017-1062-4","oa":1,"article_type":"original","project":[{"_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","grant_number":"243071","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"}],"month":"10","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"author":[{"last_name":"Pull","full_name":"Pull, Christopher","id":"3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Christopher","orcid":"0000-0003-1122-3982"},{"id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sylvia","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia"}],"volume":17,"publisher":"BioMed Central","corr_author":"1","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","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)"},"article_processing_charge":"Yes","related_material":{"record":[{"relation":"dissertation_contains","status":"public","id":"819"}]}},{"main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410374/"}],"date_published":"2015-05-26T00:00:00Z","year":"2015","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","intvolume":"       370","citation":{"ama":"Theis F, Ugelvig LV, Marr C, Cremer S. Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies. <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences</i>. 2015;370(1669). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108\">10.1098/rstb.2014.0108</a>","ista":"Theis F, Ugelvig LV, Marr C, Cremer S. 2015. Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 370(1669).","chicago":"Theis, Fabian, Line V Ugelvig, Carsten Marr, and Sylvia Cremer. “Opposing Effects of Allogrooming on Disease Transmission in Ant Societies.” <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>. Royal Society, The, 2015. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108</a>.","mla":"Theis, Fabian, et al. “Opposing Effects of Allogrooming on Disease Transmission in Ant Societies.” <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>, vol. 370, no. 1669, Royal Society, The, 2015, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108\">10.1098/rstb.2014.0108</a>.","ieee":"F. Theis, L. V. Ugelvig, C. Marr, and S. Cremer, “Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies,” <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>, vol. 370, no. 1669. Royal Society, The, 2015.","short":"F. Theis, L.V. Ugelvig, C. Marr, S. Cremer, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 370 (2015).","apa":"Theis, F., Ugelvig, L. V., Marr, C., &#38; Cremer, S. (2015). Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies. <i>Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>. Royal Society, The. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0108</a>"},"day":"26","type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","_id":"1830","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"To prevent epidemics, insect societies have evolved collective disease defences that are highly effective at curing exposed individuals and limiting disease transmission to healthy group members. Grooming is an important sanitary behaviour—either performed towards oneself (self-grooming) or towards others (allogrooming)—to remove infectious agents from the body surface of exposed individuals, but at the risk of disease contraction by the groomer. We use garden ants (Lasius neglectus) and the fungal pathogen Metarhizium as a model system to study how pathogen presence affects self-grooming and allogrooming between exposed and healthy individuals. We develop an epidemiological SIS model to explore how experimentally observed grooming patterns affect disease spread within the colony, thereby providing a direct link between the expression and direction of sanitary behaviours, and their effects on colony-level epidemiology. We find that fungus-exposed ants increase self-grooming, while simultaneously decreasing allogrooming. This behavioural modulation seems universally adaptive and is predicted to contain disease spread in a great variety of host–pathogen systems. In contrast, allogrooming directed towards pathogen-exposed individuals might both increase and decrease disease risk. Our model reveals that the effect of allogrooming depends on the balance between pathogen infectiousness and efficiency of social host defences, which are likely to vary across host–pathogen systems."}],"external_id":{"isi":["000354143400010"],"pmid":["25870394"]},"scopus_import":"1","ec_funded":1,"issue":"1669","status":"public","isi":1,"date_updated":"2025-09-23T09:44:53Z","publication":"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences","oa_version":"Submitted Version","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:54:15Z","title":"Opposing effects of allogrooming on disease transmission in ant societies","publication_identifier":{"issn":["0962-8436"],"eissn":["1471-2970"]},"publist_id":"5273","publication_status":"published","pmid":1,"related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"9721","relation":"research_data"}]},"publisher":"Royal Society, The","corr_author":"1","article_processing_charge":"No","article_type":"original","project":[{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","grant_number":"243071","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"grant_number":"302004","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DDF0F0-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","name":"Collective disease defence and pathogen detection abilities in ant societies: a chemo-neuro-immunological approach"},{"name":"Schnellboot Antnet Junge Akademie","_id":"25E0E184-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"name":"Fellowship of Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin","_id":"25E24DB2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"}],"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"05","volume":370,"author":[{"last_name":"Theis","full_name":"Theis, Fabian","first_name":"Fabian"},{"full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V","last_name":"Ugelvig","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Line V","orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883"},{"first_name":"Carsten","full_name":"Marr, Carsten","last_name":"Marr"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia"}],"acknowledgement":"We thank Meghan L. Vyleta for the genetical fungal strain characterization and Eva Sixt for ant drawings, Matthias Konrad for discussion and Christopher D. Pull, Barbara Casillas-Peréz, Sebastian Novak, as well as three anonymous reviewers and the theme issue editors Peter Kappeler and Charlie Nunn for valuable comments on the manuscript.","oa":1,"doi":"10.1098/rstb.2014.0108"},{"article_processing_charge":"No","corr_author":"1","publisher":"Elsevier","oa":1,"doi":"10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018","pubrep_id":"329","author":[{"last_name":"Novak","full_name":"Novak, Sebastian","orcid":"0000-0002-2519-824X","id":"461468AE-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sebastian"},{"full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"}],"volume":372,"department":[{"_id":"NiBa"},{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"05","project":[{"call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25B07788-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"250152","name":"Limits to selection in biology and in evolutionary computation"},{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","grant_number":"243071"}],"title":"Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: Optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:54:21Z","oa_version":"Submitted Version","publication_status":"published","publist_id":"5251","file":[{"file_name":"IST-2015-329-v1+1_manuscript.pdf","checksum":"3c0dcacc900bc45cc65a453dfda4ca43","date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:45:19Z","creator":"system","relation":"main_file","file_id":"5326","access_level":"open_access","date_created":"2018-12-12T10:18:07Z","file_size":1546914,"content_type":"application/pdf"}],"status":"public","page":"54 - 64","ec_funded":1,"issue":"5","scopus_import":"1","file_date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:45:19Z","publication":"Journal of Theoretical Biology","date_updated":"2025-09-23T08:54:35Z","isi":1,"intvolume":"       372","ddc":["576"],"user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","year":"2015","date_published":"2015-05-07T00:00:00Z","external_id":{"isi":["000353311700006"]},"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Entomopathogenic fungi are potent biocontrol agents that are widely used against insect pests, many of which are social insects. Nevertheless, theoretical investigations of their particular life history are scarce. We develop a model that takes into account the main distinguishing features between traditionally studied diseases and obligate killing pathogens, like the (biocontrol-relevant) insect-pathogenic fungi Metarhizium and Beauveria. First, obligate killing entomopathogenic fungi produce new infectious particles (conidiospores) only after host death and not yet on the living host. Second, the killing rates of entomopathogenic fungi depend strongly on the initial exposure dosage, thus we explicitly consider the pathogen load of individual hosts. Further, we make the model applicable not only to solitary host species, but also to group living species by incorporating social interactions between hosts, like the collective disease defences of insect societies. Our results identify the optimal killing rate for the pathogen that minimises its invasion threshold. Furthermore, we find that the rate of contact between hosts has an ambivalent effect: dense interaction networks between individuals are considered to facilitate disease outbreaks because of increased pathogen transmission. In social insects, this is compensated by their collective disease defences, i.e., social immunity. For the type of pathogens considered here, we show that even without social immunity, high contact rates between live individuals dilute the pathogen in the host colony and hence can reduce individual pathogen loads below disease-causing levels."}],"_id":"1850","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","day":"07","citation":{"apa":"Novak, S., &#38; Cremer, S. (2015). Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: Optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates. <i>Journal of Theoretical Biology</i>. Elsevier. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018</a>","short":"S. Novak, S. Cremer, Journal of Theoretical Biology 372 (2015) 54–64.","ieee":"S. Novak and S. Cremer, “Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: Optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates,” <i>Journal of Theoretical Biology</i>, vol. 372, no. 5. Elsevier, pp. 54–64, 2015.","mla":"Novak, Sebastian, and Sylvia Cremer. “Fungal Disease Dynamics in Insect Societies: Optimal Killing Rates and the Ambivalent Effect of High Social Interaction Rates.” <i>Journal of Theoretical Biology</i>, vol. 372, no. 5, Elsevier, 2015, pp. 54–64, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018\">10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018</a>.","chicago":"Novak, Sebastian, and Sylvia Cremer. “Fungal Disease Dynamics in Insect Societies: Optimal Killing Rates and the Ambivalent Effect of High Social Interaction Rates.” <i>Journal of Theoretical Biology</i>. Elsevier, 2015. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018</a>.","ista":"Novak S, Cremer S. 2015. Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: Optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 372(5), 54–64.","ama":"Novak S, Cremer S. Fungal disease dynamics in insect societies: Optimal killing rates and the ambivalent effect of high social interaction rates. <i>Journal of Theoretical Biology</i>. 2015;372(5):54-64. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018\">10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.02.018</a>"},"has_accepted_license":"1"},{"acknowledgement":"Funding was obtained by the German Research Foundation (CR 118–2) and an ERC StG (243071) by the European Research Council (both to S.C.).\r\nWe thank Line V. Ugelvig for help with ant collection and statistical discussion, Xavier Espadaler for detailed information on the ant collection site, Birgit Lautenschläger for the electron microscopy images and Eva Sixt for ant drawings. We further thank Jørgen Eilenberg for the fungal strain, Meghan L. Vyleta for genetic strain characterization and immune gene primer development, Paul Schmid-Hempel for discussion, and Line V. Ugelvig, Xavier Espadaler and Christopher D. Pull for comments on the manuscript. S.C., M.K. and S.T. conceived the study; M.K. and A.V.G. performed the experiments; M.K. performed the statistical analysis; S.C. and M.K. wrote the manuscript with intense contributions of A.V.G. and S.T.; all authors approved the manuscript.","oa":1,"doi":"10.1098/rspb.2014.1976","volume":282,"author":[{"full_name":"Konrad, Matthias","last_name":"Konrad","first_name":"Matthias","id":"46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"first_name":"Anna V","id":"406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Grasse, Anna V","last_name":"Grasse"},{"last_name":"Tragust","full_name":"Tragust, Simon","id":"35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Simon"},{"full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sylvia"}],"project":[{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","grant_number":"243071","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7"},{"name":"Host-Parasite Coevolution","grant_number":"CR-118/3-1","_id":"25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"}],"article_type":"original","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"01","corr_author":"1","article_processing_charge":"No","publisher":"The Royal Society","pmid":1,"related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"9740","relation":"research_data"}]},"publist_id":"5090","publication_status":"published","publication_identifier":{"issn":["0962-8452"],"eissn":["1471-2954"]},"title":"Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:55:06Z","oa_version":"Submitted Version","publication":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences","date_updated":"2025-09-23T07:55:03Z","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"EM-Fac"}],"isi":1,"status":"public","issue":"1799","ec_funded":1,"scopus_import":"1","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"The fitness effects of symbionts on their hosts can be context-dependent, with usually benign symbionts causing detrimental effects when their hosts are stressed, or typically parasitic symbionts providing protection towards their hosts (e.g. against pathogen infection). Here, we studied the novel association between the invasive garden ant Lasius neglectus and its fungal ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum for potential costs and benefits. We tested ants with different Laboulbenia levels for their survival and immunity under resource limitation and exposure to the obligate killing entomopathogen Metarhizium brunneum. While survival of L. neglectus workers under starvation was significantly decreased with increasing Laboulbenia levels, host survival under Metarhizium exposure increased with higher levels of the ectosymbiont, suggesting a symbiont-mediated anti-pathogen protection, which seems to be driven mechanistically by both improved sanitary behaviours and an upregulated immune system. Ants with high Laboulbenia levels showed significantly longer self-grooming and elevated expression of immune genes relevant for wound repair and antifungal responses (β-1,3-glucan binding protein, Prophenoloxidase), compared with ants carrying low Laboulbenia levels. This suggests that the ectosymbiont Laboulbenia formicarum weakens its ant host by either direct resource exploitation or the costs of an upregulated behavioural and immunological response, which, however, provides a prophylactic protection upon later exposure to pathogens. "}],"_id":"1993","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"external_id":{"isi":["000345624600008"],"pmid":["25473011"]},"type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","citation":{"chicago":"Konrad, Matthias, Anna V Grasse, Simon Tragust, and Sylvia Cremer. “Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host.” <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>. The Royal Society, 2015. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976</a>.","ama":"Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>. 2015;282(1799). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976\">10.1098/rspb.2014.1976</a>","ista":"Konrad M, Grasse AV, Tragust S, Cremer S. 2015. Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. 282(1799), 20141976.","apa":"Konrad, M., Grasse, A. V., Tragust, S., &#38; Cremer, S. (2015). Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host. <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>. The Royal Society. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976\">https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976</a>","mla":"Konrad, Matthias, et al. “Anti-Pathogen Protection versus Survival Costs Mediated by an Ectosymbiont in an Ant Host.” <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>, vol. 282, no. 1799, 20141976, The Royal Society, 2015, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1976\">10.1098/rspb.2014.1976</a>.","ieee":"M. Konrad, A. V. Grasse, S. Tragust, and S. Cremer, “Anti-pathogen protection versus survival costs mediated by an ectosymbiont in an ant host,” <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>, vol. 282, no. 1799. The Royal Society, 2015.","short":"M. Konrad, A.V. Grasse, S. Tragust, S. Cremer, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences 282 (2015)."},"day":"22","article_number":"20141976","intvolume":"       282","year":"2015","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","date_published":"2015-01-22T00:00:00Z","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286035/"}]},{"citation":{"chicago":"Westhus, Claudia, Line V Ugelvig, Edouard Tourdot, Jürgen Heinze, Claudie Doums, and Sylvia Cremer. “Increased Grooming after Repeated Brood Care Provides Sanitary Benefits in a Clonal Ant.” <i>Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</i>. Springer, 2014. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8</a>.","ista":"Westhus C, Ugelvig LV, Tourdot E, Heinze J, Doums C, Cremer S. 2014. Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 68(10), 1701–1710.","ama":"Westhus C, Ugelvig LV, Tourdot E, Heinze J, Doums C, Cremer S. Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant. <i>Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</i>. 2014;68(10):1701-1710. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8\">10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8</a>","apa":"Westhus, C., Ugelvig, L. V., Tourdot, E., Heinze, J., Doums, C., &#38; Cremer, S. (2014). Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant. <i>Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</i>. Springer. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8</a>","short":"C. Westhus, L.V. Ugelvig, E. Tourdot, J. Heinze, C. Doums, S. Cremer, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 68 (2014) 1701–1710.","ieee":"C. Westhus, L. V. Ugelvig, E. Tourdot, J. Heinze, C. Doums, and S. Cremer, “Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant,” <i>Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</i>, vol. 68, no. 10. Springer, pp. 1701–1710, 2014.","mla":"Westhus, Claudia, et al. “Increased Grooming after Repeated Brood Care Provides Sanitary Benefits in a Clonal Ant.” <i>Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</i>, vol. 68, no. 10, Springer, 2014, pp. 1701–10, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8\">10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8</a>."},"day":"23","quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","external_id":{"isi":["000342226200015"]},"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"_id":"2161","abstract":[{"text":"Repeated pathogen exposure is a common threat in colonies of social insects, posing selection pressures on colony members to respond with improved disease-defense performance. We here tested whether experience gained by repeated tending of low-level fungus-exposed (Metarhizium robertsii) larvae may alter the performance of sanitary brood care in the clonal ant, Platythyrea punctata. We trained ants individually over nine consecutive trials to either sham-treated or fungus-exposed larvae. We then compared the larval grooming behavior of naive and trained ants and measured how effectively they removed infectious fungal conidiospores from the fungus-exposed larvae. We found that the ants changed the duration of larval grooming in response to both, larval treatment and their level of experience: (1) sham-treated larvae received longer grooming than the fungus-exposed larvae and (2) trained ants performed less self-grooming but longer larval grooming than naive ants, which was true for both, ants trained to fungus-exposed and also to sham-treated larvae. Ants that groomed the fungus-exposed larvae for longer periods removed a higher number of fungal conidiospores from the surface of the fungus-exposed larvae. As experienced ants performed longer larval grooming, they were more effective in fungal removal, thus making them better caretakers under pathogen attack of the colony. By studying this clonal ant, we can thus conclude that even in the absence of genetic variation between colony members, differences in experience levels of brood care may affect performance of sanitary brood care in social insects.","lang":"eng"}],"date_published":"2014-07-23T00:00:00Z","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","year":"2014","intvolume":"        68","isi":1,"date_updated":"2025-09-29T11:42:26Z","publication":"Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology","scopus_import":"1","ec_funded":1,"issue":"10","page":"1701 - 1710","status":"public","publication_status":"published","publist_id":"4823","oa_version":"None","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:56:03Z","title":"Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant","publication_identifier":{"issn":["0340-5443"]},"month":"07","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"article_type":"original","project":[{"name":"International IST Postdoc Fellowship Programme","grant_number":"291734","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25681D80-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","grant_number":"243071","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7"},{"_id":"25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"CR-118/3-1","name":"Host-Parasite Coevolution"}],"volume":68,"author":[{"first_name":"Claudia","id":"ca9c6ca9-e8aa-11ec-a586-b9471ede0494","full_name":"Westhus, Claudia","last_name":"Westhus"},{"last_name":"Ugelvig","full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V","first_name":"Line V","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883"},{"first_name":"Edouard","full_name":"Tourdot, Edouard","last_name":"Tourdot"},{"full_name":"Heinze, Jürgen","last_name":"Heinze","first_name":"Jürgen"},{"first_name":"Claudie","last_name":"Doums","full_name":"Doums, Claudie"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia"}],"doi":"10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8","acknowledgement":"We thank Katrin Kellner for colony establishment and characterization, Mike Bidochka for the fungal strain, Meghan Vyleta for fungal strain characterization, Martina Klatt and Simon Tragust for help in the laboratory, Dimitri Missoh for developing the software BioLogic, and Mark Brown and Raphaël Jeanson for discussion and help with data analysis. The study was funded by the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant to SC; Marie Curie IEF to LVU) and the German Research Foundation DFG (to SC and to JH), and CW received funding by the doctoral school Diversité du Vivant (Cotutelle project to CD and SC).\r\n","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"9742","status":"public","relation":"research_data"}]},"publisher":"Springer","article_processing_charge":"No","corr_author":"1"},{"oa_version":"None","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:55:08Z","title":"Organisational immunity in social insects","publication_status":"published","publist_id":"5080","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"6383","relation":"dissertation_contains"},{"id":"6435","status":"public","relation":"dissertation_contains"}]},"publisher":"Elsevier","article_processing_charge":"No","corr_author":"1","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"11","project":[{"call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"243071","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"}],"volume":5,"author":[{"last_name":"Stroeymeyt","full_name":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie","first_name":"Nathalie"},{"id":"351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Barbara E","full_name":"Casillas Perez, Barbara E","last_name":"Casillas Perez"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer"}],"doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001","date_published":"2014-11-01T00:00:00Z","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","year":"2014","intvolume":"         5","citation":{"apa":"Stroeymeyt, N., Casillas Perez, B. E., &#38; Cremer, S. (2014). Organisational immunity in social insects. <i>Current Opinion in Insect Science</i>. Elsevier. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001</a>","short":"N. Stroeymeyt, B.E. Casillas Perez, S. Cremer, Current Opinion in Insect Science 5 (2014) 1–15.","ieee":"N. Stroeymeyt, B. E. Casillas Perez, and S. Cremer, “Organisational immunity in social insects,” <i>Current Opinion in Insect Science</i>, vol. 5, no. 1. Elsevier, pp. 1–15, 2014.","mla":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie, et al. “Organisational Immunity in Social Insects.” <i>Current Opinion in Insect Science</i>, vol. 5, no. 1, Elsevier, 2014, pp. 1–15, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001\">10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001</a>.","chicago":"Stroeymeyt, Nathalie, Barbara E Casillas Perez, and Sylvia Cremer. “Organisational Immunity in Social Insects.” <i>Current Opinion in Insect Science</i>. Elsevier, 2014. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001</a>.","ista":"Stroeymeyt N, Casillas Perez BE, Cremer S. 2014. Organisational immunity in social insects. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 5(1), 1–15.","ama":"Stroeymeyt N, Casillas Perez BE, Cremer S. Organisational immunity in social insects. <i>Current Opinion in Insect Science</i>. 2014;5(1):1-15. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001\">10.1016/j.cois.2014.09.001</a>"},"day":"01","quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","external_id":{"isi":["000209578900002"]},"_id":"1999","abstract":[{"text":"Selection for disease control is believed to have contributed to shape the organisation of insect societies — leading to interaction patterns that mitigate disease transmission risk within colonies, conferring them ‘organisational immunity’. Recent studies combining epidemiological models with social network analysis have identified general properties of interaction networks that may hinder propagation of infection within groups. These can be prophylactic and/or induced upon pathogen exposure. Here we review empirical evidence for these two types of organisational immunity in social insects and describe the individual-level behaviours that underlie it. We highlight areas requiring further investigation, and emphasise the need for tighter links between theory and empirical research and between individual-level and collective-level analyses.","lang":"eng"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"scopus_import":"1","issue":"1","ec_funded":1,"page":"1 - 15","status":"public","isi":1,"publication":"Current Opinion in Insect Science","date_updated":"2026-04-27T22:30:44Z"},{"file":[{"checksum":"c16ef36f2a10786a7885e19c4528d707","file_name":"IST-2016-402-v1+1_1471-2148-13-225.pdf","creator":"system","relation":"main_file","file_id":"5026","date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:45:37Z","access_level":"open_access","content_type":"application/pdf","file_size":281736,"date_created":"2018-12-12T10:13:41Z"}],"publication_status":"published","publist_id":"4647","oa_version":"Published Version","date_created":"2018-12-11T11:56:46Z","title":"Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies","department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"10","project":[{"grant_number":"243071","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"},{"grant_number":"CR-118/3-1","_id":"25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","name":"Host-Parasite Coevolution"}],"author":[{"full_name":"Tragust, Simon","last_name":"Tragust","first_name":"Simon","id":"35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V","last_name":"Ugelvig","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Line V","orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883"},{"first_name":"Michel","full_name":"Chapuisat, Michel","last_name":"Chapuisat"},{"last_name":"Heinze","full_name":"Heinze, Jürgen","first_name":"Jürgen"},{"first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia"}],"volume":13,"pubrep_id":"402","oa":1,"doi":"10.1186/1471-2148-13-225","acknowledgement":"The study was funded by the European Research Council (Marie Curie ERG 036569) and Marie Curie IEF 302204 to LVU\r\nCC BY 2.0\r\n","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"9753","status":"public","relation":"research_data"}]},"publisher":"BioMed Central","article_processing_charge":"No","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","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)"},"corr_author":"1","citation":{"apa":"Tragust, S., Ugelvig, L. V., Chapuisat, M., Heinze, J., &#38; Cremer, S. (2013). Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. BioMed Central. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225\">https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225</a>","mla":"Tragust, Simon, et al. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>, vol. 13, no. 1, 225, BioMed Central, 2013, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225\">10.1186/1471-2148-13-225</a>.","short":"S. Tragust, L.V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, S. Cremer, BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (2013).","ieee":"S. Tragust, L. V. Ugelvig, M. Chapuisat, J. Heinze, and S. Cremer, “Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies,” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>, vol. 13, no. 1. BioMed Central, 2013.","chicago":"Tragust, Simon, Line V Ugelvig, Michel Chapuisat, Jürgen Heinze, and Sylvia Cremer. “Pupal Cocoons Affect Sanitary Brood Care and Limit Fungal Infections in Ant Colonies.” <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. BioMed Central, 2013. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225\">https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225</a>.","ama":"Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology</i>. 2013;13(1). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-13-225\">10.1186/1471-2148-13-225</a>","ista":"Tragust S, Ugelvig LV, Chapuisat M, Heinze J, Cremer S. 2013. Pupal cocoons affect sanitary brood care and limit fungal infections in ant colonies. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 13(1), 225."},"day":"14","has_accepted_license":"1","quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","external_id":{"isi":["000326620500001"]},"_id":"2284","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Background: The brood of ants and other social insects is highly susceptible to pathogens, particularly those that penetrate the soft larval and pupal cuticle. We here test whether the presence of a pupal cocoon, which occurs in some ant species but not in others, affects the sanitary brood care and fungal infection patterns after exposure to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum. We use a) a comparative approach analysing four species with either naked or cocooned pupae and b) a within-species analysis of a single ant species, in which both pupal types co-exist in the same colony. Results: We found that the presence of a cocoon did not compromise fungal pathogen detection by the ants and that species with cocooned pupae increased brood grooming after pathogen exposure. All tested ant species further removed brood from their nests, which was predominantly expressed towards larvae and naked pupae treated with the live fungal pathogen. In contrast, cocooned pupae exposed to live fungus were not removed at higher rates than cocooned pupae exposed to dead fungus or a sham control. Consistent with this, exposure to the live fungus caused high numbers of infections and fungal outgrowth in larvae and naked pupae, but not in cocooned pupae. Moreover, the ants consistently removed the brood prior to fungal outgrowth, ensuring a clean brood chamber. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the pupal cocoon has a protective effect against fungal infection, causing an adaptive change in sanitary behaviours by the ants. It further demonstrates that brood removal-originally described for honeybees as &quot;hygienic behaviour&quot;-is a widespread sanitary behaviour in ants, which likely has important implications on disease dynamics in social insect colonies."}],"date_published":"2013-10-14T00:00:00Z","ddc":["570"],"user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","year":"2013","intvolume":"        13","article_number":"225","isi":1,"publication":"BMC Evolutionary Biology","date_updated":"2025-09-29T14:24:13Z","file_date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:45:37Z","scopus_import":"1","ec_funded":1,"issue":"1","status":"public"},{"acknowledgement":"Funding for this project was obtained by the German Research Foundation (DFG, to S.C.) and the European Research Council (ERC, through an ERC-Starting Grant to S.C. and an Individual Marie Curie IEF fellowship to L.V.U.).\r\nWe thank Jørgen Eilenberg, Bernhardt Steinwender, Miriam Stock, and Meghan L. Vyleta for the fungal strain and its characterization; Volker Witte for chemical information; Eva Sixt for ant drawings; and Robert Hauschild for help with image analysis. We further thank Martin Kaltenpoth, Michael Sixt, Jürgen Heinze, and Joachim Ruther for discussion and Daria Siekhaus, Sophie A.O. Armitage, and Leila Masri for comments on the manuscript. \r\n","doi":"10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034","project":[{"name":"Host-Parasite Coevolution","_id":"25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"CR-118/3-1"},{"name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects","call_identifier":"FP7","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"243071"},{"name":"Collective disease defence and pathogen detection abilities in ant societies: a chemo-neuro-immunological approach","_id":"25DDF0F0-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","grant_number":"302004"}],"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"},{"_id":"CaHe"}],"month":"01","author":[{"full_name":"Tragust, Simon","last_name":"Tragust","first_name":"Simon","id":"35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"last_name":"Mitteregger","full_name":"Mitteregger, Barbara","id":"479DDAAC-E9CD-11E9-9B5F-82450873F7A1","first_name":"Barbara"},{"full_name":"Barone, Vanessa","last_name":"Barone","first_name":"Vanessa","id":"419EECCC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0003-2676-3367"},{"first_name":"Matthias","id":"46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Konrad, Matthias","last_name":"Konrad"},{"full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V","last_name":"Ugelvig","first_name":"Line V","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883"},{"orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Sylvia","last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia"}],"volume":23,"publisher":"Cell Press","corr_author":"1","article_processing_charge":"No","related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"9757","relation":"research_data"},{"status":"public","id":"961","relation":"dissertation_contains"}]},"publist_id":"3811","publication_status":"published","oa_version":"None","date_created":"2018-12-11T12:00:23Z","title":"Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison","isi":1,"date_updated":"2026-04-08T14:22:39Z","publication":"Current Biology","page":"76 - 82","status":"public","scopus_import":"1","ec_funded":1,"issue":"1","type":"journal_article","quality_controlled":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"_id":"2926","abstract":[{"text":"To fight infectious diseases, host immune defenses are employed at multiple levels. Sanitary behavior, such as pathogen avoidance and removal, acts as a first line of defense to prevent infection [1] before activation of the physiological immune system. Insect societies have evolved a wide range of collective hygiene measures and intensive health care toward pathogen-exposed group members [2]. One of the most common behaviors is allogrooming, in which nestmates remove infectious particles from the body surfaces of exposed individuals [3]. Here we show that, in invasive garden ants, grooming of fungus-exposed brood is effective beyond the sheer mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores; it also includes chemical disinfection through the application of poison produced by the ants themselves. Formic acid is the main active component of the poison. It inhibits fungal growth of conidiospores remaining on the brood surface after grooming and also those collected in the mouth of the grooming ant. This dual function is achieved by uptake of the poison droplet into the mouth through acidopore self-grooming and subsequent application onto the infectious brood via brood grooming. This extraordinary behavior extends the current understanding of grooming and the establishment of social immunity in insect societies.","lang":"eng"}],"external_id":{"isi":["000313383700026"]},"citation":{"ama":"Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. <i>Current Biology</i>. 2013;23(1):76-82. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034\">10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034</a>","ista":"Tragust S, Mitteregger B, Barone V, Konrad M, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. 2013. Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. Current Biology. 23(1), 76–82.","chicago":"Tragust, Simon, Barbara Mitteregger, Vanessa Barone, Matthias Konrad, Line V Ugelvig, and Sylvia Cremer. “Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison.” <i>Current Biology</i>. Cell Press, 2013. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034</a>.","mla":"Tragust, Simon, et al. “Ants Disinfect Fungus-Exposed Brood by Oral Uptake and Spread of Their Poison.” <i>Current Biology</i>, vol. 23, no. 1, Cell Press, 2013, pp. 76–82, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034\">10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034</a>.","short":"S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L.V. Ugelvig, S. Cremer, Current Biology 23 (2013) 76–82.","ieee":"S. Tragust, B. Mitteregger, V. Barone, M. Konrad, L. V. Ugelvig, and S. Cremer, “Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison,” <i>Current Biology</i>, vol. 23, no. 1. Cell Press, pp. 76–82, 2013.","apa":"Tragust, S., Mitteregger, B., Barone, V., Konrad, M., Ugelvig, L. V., &#38; Cremer, S. (2013). Ants disinfect fungus-exposed brood by oral uptake and spread of their poison. <i>Current Biology</i>. Cell Press. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.034</a>"},"day":"07","year":"2013","user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","intvolume":"        23","date_published":"2013-01-07T00:00:00Z"},{"file":[{"checksum":"4ebacefd9fbab5c68adf829124115fd1","file_name":"IST-2012-96-v1+1_journal.pbio.1001300.pdf","file_id":"4689","relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:46:04Z","creator":"system","access_level":"open_access","content_type":"application/pdf","date_created":"2018-12-12T10:08:28Z","file_size":674228}],"publication_status":"published","publist_id":"3434","title":"Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies","date_created":"2018-12-11T12:02:13Z","oa_version":"Published Version","author":[{"id":"46528076-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Matthias","full_name":"Konrad, Matthias","last_name":"Konrad"},{"first_name":"Meghan","id":"418901AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Vyleta","full_name":"Vyleta, Meghan"},{"first_name":"Fabian","full_name":"Theis, Fabian","last_name":"Theis"},{"first_name":"Miriam","id":"42462816-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Stock, Miriam","last_name":"Stock"},{"id":"35A7A418-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Simon","full_name":"Tragust, Simon","last_name":"Tragust"},{"last_name":"Klatt","full_name":"Klatt, Martina","first_name":"Martina","id":"E60F29C6-E9AE-11E9-AF6E-D190C7302F38"},{"last_name":"Drescher","full_name":"Drescher, Verena","first_name":"Verena"},{"last_name":"Marr","full_name":"Marr, Carsten","first_name":"Carsten"},{"orcid":"0000-0003-1832-8883","first_name":"Line V","id":"3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Ugelvig","full_name":"Ugelvig, Line V"},{"last_name":"Cremer","full_name":"Cremer, Sylvia","first_name":"Sylvia","id":"2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-2193-3868"}],"volume":10,"department":[{"_id":"SyCr"}],"month":"04","project":[{"name":"Host-Parasite Coevolution","_id":"25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","grant_number":"CR-118/3-1"},{"grant_number":"243071","_id":"25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"FP7","name":"Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society Effects"},{"name":"Schnellboot Antnet Junge Akademie","_id":"25E0E184-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"}],"doi":"10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300","oa":1,"acknowledgement":"Funding for this project was obtained by the German Research Foundation DFG (http://www.dfg.de/en/index.jsp) as an Individual Research Grant (CR118/2-1 to SC) and the European Research Council (http://erc.europa.eu/) in form of two ERC Starting Grants (ERC-2009-StG240371-SocialVaccines to SC and ERC-2010-StG259294-LatentCauses to FJT). In addition, the Junge Akademie (Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (http://www.diejungeakademie.de/english/i​ndex.html) funded this joint Antnet project of SC and FJT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","pubrep_id":"96","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"9755","status":"public","relation":"research_data"}]},"article_processing_charge":"No","corr_author":"1","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","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)"},"publisher":"Public Library of Science","citation":{"mla":"Konrad, Matthias, et al. “Social Transfer of Pathogenic Fungus Promotes Active Immunisation in Ant Colonies.” <i>PLoS Biology</i>, vol. 10, no. 4, e1001300, Public Library of Science, 2012, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300\">10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300</a>.","ieee":"M. Konrad <i>et al.</i>, “Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies,” <i>PLoS Biology</i>, vol. 10, no. 4. Public Library of Science, 2012.","short":"M. Konrad, M. Vyleta, F. Theis, M. Stock, S. Tragust, M. Klatt, V. Drescher, C. Marr, L.V. Ugelvig, S. Cremer, PLoS Biology 10 (2012).","apa":"Konrad, M., Vyleta, M., Theis, F., Stock, M., Tragust, S., Klatt, M., … Cremer, S. (2012). Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. <i>PLoS Biology</i>. Public Library of Science. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300\">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300</a>","ama":"Konrad M, Vyleta M, Theis F, et al. Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. <i>PLoS Biology</i>. 2012;10(4). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300\">10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300</a>","ista":"Konrad M, Vyleta M, Theis F, Stock M, Tragust S, Klatt M, Drescher V, Marr C, Ugelvig LV, Cremer S. 2012. Social transfer of pathogenic fungus promotes active immunisation in ant colonies. PLoS Biology. 10(4), e1001300.","chicago":"Konrad, Matthias, Meghan Vyleta, Fabian Theis, Miriam Stock, Simon Tragust, Martina Klatt, Verena Drescher, Carsten Marr, Line V Ugelvig, and Sylvia Cremer. “Social Transfer of Pathogenic Fungus Promotes Active Immunisation in Ant Colonies.” <i>PLoS Biology</i>. Public Library of Science, 2012. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300\">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300</a>."},"day":"03","has_accepted_license":"1","external_id":{"isi":["000303541800006"]},"_id":"3242","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Due to the omnipresent risk of epidemics, insect societies have evolved sophisticated disease defences at the individual and colony level. An intriguing yet little understood phenomenon is that social contact to pathogen-exposed individuals reduces susceptibility of previously naive nestmates to this pathogen. We tested whether such social immunisation in Lasius ants against the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae is based on active upregulation of the immune system of nestmates following contact to an infectious individual or passive protection via transfer of immune effectors among group members—that is, active versus passive immunisation. We found no evidence for involvement of passive immunisation via transfer of antimicrobials among colony members. Instead, intensive allogrooming behaviour between naive and pathogen-exposed ants before fungal conidia firmly attached to their cuticle suggested passage of the pathogen from the exposed individuals to their nestmates. By tracing fluorescence-labelled conidia we indeed detected frequent pathogen transfer to the nestmates, where they caused low-level infections as revealed by growth of small numbers of fungal colony forming units from their dissected body content. These infections rarely led to death, but instead promoted an enhanced ability to inhibit fungal growth and an active upregulation of immune genes involved in antifungal defences (defensin and prophenoloxidase, PPO). Contrarily, there was no upregulation of the gene cathepsin L, which is associated with antibacterial and antiviral defences, and we found no increased antibacterial activity of nestmates of fungus-exposed ants. This indicates that social immunisation after fungal exposure is specific, similar to recent findings for individual-level immune priming in invertebrates. Epidemiological modeling further suggests that active social immunisation is adaptive, as it leads to faster elimination of the disease and lower death rates than passive immunisation. Interestingly, humans have also utilised the protective effect of low-level infections to fight smallpox by intentional transfer of low pathogen doses (“variolation” or “inoculation”)."}],"quality_controlled":"1","type":"journal_article","date_published":"2012-04-03T00:00:00Z","intvolume":"        10","article_number":"e1001300","ddc":["570","579"],"user_id":"317138e5-6ab7-11ef-aa6d-ffef3953e345","year":"2012","date_updated":"2025-09-30T07:50:01Z","publication":"PLoS Biology","isi":1,"file_date_updated":"2020-07-14T12:46:04Z","ec_funded":1,"issue":"4","scopus_import":"1","status":"public"}]