---
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abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "1. Collective behaviours are a fascinating study area due to the emergent
properties that can only arise in groups of interacting individuals. However,
their quantitative study is often impaired by technical difficulties, creating
either low-quality and sparse data or impractical data amounts, particularly when
capturing large groups over long periods of time. Common challenges arise from
recording group members with as little obscuring of each other as possible, as
well as in generating manageable data amounts with as high as possible information
content.\r\n2. We here provide a multicomponent system that allows to record,
analyse and simulate the long-term spatiotemporal activity patterns of insect
collectives, especially ant colonies. Our Ant Observing System, ALTAA, comprises
a flat-nest design to prevent occlusion of individuals, a recording system running
on a low-power single-board-computer, and a set of computer programmes performing
quantitative analyses to guide the formation and validation of rules underlying
the observed collective patterns. Our system is scalable in that it allows parallel,
continuous observation of a high number of colonies using low memory space, with
colony maintenance requirements (e.g. feeding, nest humidity) being achieved at
lowest possible disturbance by the experimenter.\r\n3. We showcase the potential
of the system in a study using the black garden ant, Lasius niger, where we analyse
the spatiotemporal effects of different group sizes (1, 6, 10 ants), brood (larvae)
presence or absence, as well as of different nest geometries, over a period of
1 week. We show that the ants' motion activity has a weak periodicity in the range
of 20 to 120 min promoted by larval presence, and that ants are spatially attracted
to their larvae, the water source and the walls. We also find that the presence
of nestmates lowers an individual ant's motion activity. Observed data are compared
to simulations of the temporal activity of the ants.\r\n4. ALTAA provides a powerful
toolkit to quantify and interpret spatial and temporal collective activity patterns
in (social) insects over extended periods."
acknowledgement: We thank Harikrishnan Rajendran for discussion. This project has
received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's
Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP
to S.C.). Open Access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology Austria/KEMÖ.
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Jinook
full_name: Oh, Jinook
id: 403169A4-080F-11EA-9993-BF3F3DDC885E
last_name: Oh
orcid: 0000-0001-7425-2372
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
biorxivid: 1
citation:
ama: 'Oh J, Cremer S. ALTAA: Analysis of long-term activity patterns in ant colonies.
Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 2026;17(4):1218-1234. doi:10.1111/2041-210x.70277'
apa: 'Oh, J., & Cremer, S. (2026). ALTAA: Analysis of long-term activity patterns
in ant colonies. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.70277'
chicago: 'Oh, Jinook, and Sylvia Cremer. “ALTAA: Analysis of Long-Term Activity
Patterns in Ant Colonies.” Methods in Ecology and Evolution. Wiley, 2026.
https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.70277.'
ieee: 'J. Oh and S. Cremer, “ALTAA: Analysis of long-term activity patterns in ant
colonies,” Methods in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 17, no. 4. Wiley, pp.
1218–1234, 2026.'
ista: 'Oh J, Cremer S. 2026. ALTAA: Analysis of long-term activity patterns in ant
colonies. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 17(4), 1218–1234.'
mla: 'Oh, Jinook, and Sylvia Cremer. “ALTAA: Analysis of Long-Term Activity Patterns
in Ant Colonies.” Methods in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 17, no. 4, Wiley,
2026, pp. 1218–34, doi:10.1111/2041-210x.70277.'
short: J. Oh, S. Cremer, Methods in Ecology and Evolution 17 (2026) 1218–1234.
corr_author: '1'
das_tickbox: '1'
dataavailabilitystatement: Data available via https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16893940
(Oh, 2025), and the code is available at Github, https://github.com/jinook0707/CremerGroupApp.
date_created: 2026-03-15T23:01:36Z
date_published: 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-27T11:31:10Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1111/2041-210x.70277
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
biorxivid:
- 10.1101/2025.08.11.669637
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call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication: Methods in Ecology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2041-210X
publication_status: published
publisher: Wiley
quality_controlled: '1'
researchdata_availability: yes
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
supplementarymaterial: yes
title: 'ALTAA: Analysis of long-term activity patterns 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)
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...
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abstract:
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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
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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. Nature Communications. 2025;16. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z
apa: Dawson, E., Hönigsberger, M., Kampleitner, N., Grasse, A. V., Lindorfer, L.,
Robb, J., … Cremer, S. (2025). Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.
Nature Communications. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z
chicago: Dawson, Erika, Michaela Hönigsberger, Niklas Kampleitner, Anna V Grasse,
Lukas Lindorfer, Jennifer Robb, Farnaz Beikzadeh, et al. “Altruistic Disease Signalling
in Ant Colonies.” Nature Communications. Springer Nature, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z.
ieee: E. Dawson et al., “Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies,”
Nature Communications, 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.” Nature
Communications, vol. 16, 10511, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:10.1038/s41467-025-66175-z.
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
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- '41330896'
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url: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.27.582277
month: '12'
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pmid: 1
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publication_identifier:
eissn:
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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:
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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: '20471'
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. '
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_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Cremer S. Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471
apa: Cremer, S. (2025). Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies. Institute
of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471
chicago: Cremer, Sylvia. “Altruistic Disease Signalling in Ant Colonies.” Institute
of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471.
ieee: S. Cremer, “Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.” Institute of Science
and Technology Austria, 2025.
ista: Cremer S. 2025. Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies, Institute of
Science and Technology Austria, 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471.
mla: Cremer, Sylvia. Altruistic Disease Signalling in Ant Colonies. Institute
of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-20471.
short: S. Cremer, (2025).
contributor:
- first_name: Erika
id: 31B4E2D0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Dawson
- first_name: Michaela
id: 953894f3-25bd-11ec-8556-f70a9d38ef60
last_name: Hönigsberger
- first_name: Niklas
id: 2AC57FAC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Kampleitner
- first_name: Anna V
id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Lukas
id: 85f0e6d3-06b3-11ec-8982-8c5049fa4455
last_name: Lindorfer
- first_name: Jennifer
id: 7bc2734a-e2c6-11ea-9824-a2ed5f0662a8
last_name: Robb
- first_name: Farnaz
id: 0344bfb9-3feb-11ee-87e9-c27edc800bcd
last_name: Beikzadeh Abbasi
- first_name: Florian
id: 979E35EE-C996-11E9-8C7C-CF13E6697425
last_name: Strahodinsky
- first_name: Hanna
id: 8fc5c6f6-5903-11ec-abad-c83f046253e7
last_name: Leitner
- first_name: Harikrishnan
id: 876b6b34-8ff4-11ec-97c9-8d95a7aae416
last_name: Rajendran
- first_name: Thomas
last_name: Schmitt
- first_name: Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-10-16T09:02:16Z
date_published: 2025-10-16T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-06-10T08:50:53Z
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has_accepted_license: '1'
keyword:
- host-parasite interactions
- social insects
- social immunity
- chemical communication
- cooperation
month: '10'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
related_material:
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status: public
title: Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)
type: research_data
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OA_type: closed access
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abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Social interaction networks of insect colonies facilitate efficient information
exchange and\r\ndemonstrate adaptive changes to mitigate disease transmission.
While circadian rhythms\r\ninfluence individual behaviour, their role in shaping
colony-level defences against pathogens\r\nremains unexplored. Here, we investigate
whether social networks of the black garden ant,\r\nLasius niger, exhibit circadian
rhythms and how these rhythms influence disease vulnerability\r\nwhen colonies
are exposed to a pathogen during the day or the night.\r\nWe first establish baseline
daily variations in activity and network dynamics in pathogen-free\r\ncolonies,
revealing constitutive daily fluctuations in disease susceptibility. Subsequently,
we\r\nexamine pathogen-induced changes in sanitary care and network dynamics by
exposing\r\nforagers to a natural pathogen (Metarhizium brunneum) during either
the day or the night.\r\nIndividual pathogen loads were measured after a nine-hour
post-exposure period to evaluate\r\ntransmission outcomes.\r\nOur results demonstrate
that diurnal ant colonies maintain robust circadian patterns in network\r\nproperties
while flexibly adapting to pathogen exposure. Ants upregulate sanitary care\r\nirrespective
of exposure timing, prioritising the protection of the valuable colony centre\r\nconsisting
of nurses and the queen. These findings underscore the robustness and adaptability\r\nof
ant colonies in balancing circadian rhythms with effective social immune responses."
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: Thank you to the Lab Support Facility at ISTA. Thank you to the European
Research Council (ERC) for their funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation program (ERC Consolidator Grant EPIDEMICSonCHIP, No. 771402,
to Sylvia Cremer, and ERC Starting Grant DISEASE, No. 802628, to Nathalie Stroeymeyt).
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Linda
full_name: Sartoris, Linda
id: 2B9284CA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Sartoris
citation:
ama: Sartoris L. The effect of circadian rhythm on organisational immunity of ant
colonies. 2025. doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19302
apa: Sartoris, L. (2025). The effect of circadian rhythm on organisational immunity
of ant colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19302
chicago: Sartoris, Linda. “The Effect of Circadian Rhythm on Organisational Immunity
of Ant Colonies.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19302.
ieee: L. Sartoris, “The effect of circadian rhythm on organisational immunity of
ant colonies,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.
ista: Sartoris L. 2025. The effect of circadian rhythm on organisational immunity
of ant colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
mla: Sartoris, Linda. The Effect of Circadian Rhythm on Organisational Immunity
of Ant Colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:10.15479/AT-ISTA-19302.
short: L. Sartoris, The Effect of Circadian Rhythm on Organisational Immunity of
Ant Colonies, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-03-06T12:16:54Z
date_published: 2025-02-24T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-03-02T23:31:14Z
day: '24'
ddc:
- '577'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: GradSch
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-19302
ec_funded: 1
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date_created: 2025-03-11T10:52:00Z
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file_name: Thesis_Linda_Sartoris.pdf
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file_date_updated: 2026-03-02T23:31:13Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '02'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: '85'
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
status: public
supervisor:
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
title: The effect of circadian rhythm on organisational immunity of ant colonies
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)
type: dissertation
user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9
year: '2025'
...
---
APC_amount: 3040,36 EUR
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: hybrid
_id: '14478'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Entire chromosomes are typically only transmitted vertically from one generation
to the next. The horizontal transfer of such chromosomes has long been considered
improbable, yet gained recent support in several pathogenic fungi where it may
affect the fitness or host specificity. To date, it is unknown how these transfers
occur, how common they are and whether they can occur between different species.
In this study, we show multiple independent instances of horizontal transfers
of the same accessory chromosome between two distinct strains of the asexual entomopathogenic
fungusMetarhizium robertsiiduring experimental co-infection
of its insect host, the Argentine ant. Notably, only the one chromosome – but
no other – was transferred from the donor to the recipient strain. The recipient
strain, now harboring the accessory chromosome, exhibited a competitive advantage
under certain host conditions. By phylogenetic analysis we further demonstrate
that the same accessory chromosome was horizontally transferred in a natural environment
betweenM. robertsiiand another congeneric insect pathogen,M.
guizhouense. Hence horizontal chromosome transfer is not limited
to the observed frequent events within species during experimental infections
but also occurs naturally across species. The transferred accessory chromosome
contains genes that might be involved in its preferential horizontal transfer,
encoding putative histones and histone-modifying enzymes, but also putative virulence
factors that may support its establishment. Our study reveals that both intra-
and interspecies horizontal transfer of entire chromosomes is more frequent than
previously assumed, likely representing a not uncommon mechanism for gene exchange.Significance
StatementThe enormous success of bacterial pathogens has
been attributed to their ability to exchange genetic material between one another.
Similarly, in eukaryotes, horizontal transfer of genetic material allowed the
spread of virulence factors across species. The horizontal transfer of whole chromosomes
could be an important pathway for such exchange of genetic material, but little
is known about the origin of transferable chromosomes and how frequently they
are exchanged. Here, we show that the transfer of accessory chromosomes - chromosomes
that are non-essential but may provide fitness benefits - is common during fungal
co-infections and is even possible between distant pathogenic species, highlighting
the importance of horizontal gene transfer via chromosome transfer also for the
evolution and function of eukaryotic pathogens.
acknowledgement: We thank Bernhardt Steinwender, Jorgen Eilenberg, and Nicolai V.
Meyling for the fungal strains. We further thank Chengshu Wang for providing the
short sequencing reads for M. guizhouense ARESF977 he used for his published genome
assembly, and Kristian Ullrich for help in the bioinformatics analysis for methylation
pattern in Nanopore reads, and the VBC and the Max Planck Society for the use of
their sequencing centers. We thank Barbara Milutinović and Hinrich Schulenburg for
discussion, and Tal Dagan and Jens Rolff for comments on a previous version of the
manuscript. Fig. 1A was created with BioRender.com. This study received funding
by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research
and Innovation Programme (No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP) to S.C. and by the German
Research Foundation (DFG grant HA9263/1-1) to M.H.
article_number: e2316284121
article_processing_charge: Yes (in subscription journal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Habig, Michael
last_name: Habig
- first_name: Anna V
full_name: Grasse, Anna V
id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Judith
full_name: Müller, Judith
last_name: Müller
- first_name: Eva H.
full_name: Stukenbrock, Eva H.
last_name: Stukenbrock
- first_name: Hanna
full_name: Leitner, Hanna
id: 8fc5c6f6-5903-11ec-abad-c83f046253e7
last_name: Leitner
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Habig M, Grasse AV, Müller J, Stukenbrock EH, Leitner H, Cremer S. Frequent
horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal insect pathogens. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2024;121(11).
doi:10.1073/pnas.2316284121
apa: Habig, M., Grasse, A. V., Müller, J., Stukenbrock, E. H., Leitner, H., &
Cremer, S. (2024). Frequent horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal
insect pathogens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316284121
chicago: Habig, Michael, Anna V Grasse, Judith Müller, Eva H. Stukenbrock, Hanna
Leitner, and Sylvia Cremer. “Frequent Horizontal Chromosome Transfer between Asexual
Fungal Insect Pathogens.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America. National Academy of Sciences, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316284121.
ieee: M. Habig, A. V. Grasse, J. Müller, E. H. Stukenbrock, H. Leitner, and S. Cremer,
“Frequent horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal insect pathogens,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
vol. 121, no. 11. National Academy of Sciences, 2024.
ista: Habig M, Grasse AV, Müller J, Stukenbrock EH, Leitner H, Cremer S. 2024. Frequent
horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal insect pathogens. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 121(11),
e2316284121.
mla: Habig, Michael, et al. “Frequent Horizontal Chromosome Transfer between Asexual
Fungal Insect Pathogens.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America, vol. 121, no. 11, e2316284121, National Academy
of Sciences, 2024, doi:10.1073/pnas.2316284121.
short: M. Habig, A.V. Grasse, J. Müller, E.H. Stukenbrock, H. Leitner, S. Cremer,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
121 (2024).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2023-10-31T13:30:00Z
date_published: 2024-03-12T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-08-05T13:30:51Z
day: '12'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2316284121
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '001207630200005'
pmid:
- '38442176'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: f5e871db617b682edc71fcd08670dc81
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2024-03-19T09:02:57Z
date_updated: 2024-03-19T09:02:57Z
file_id: '15124'
file_name: 2024_PNAS_Habig.pdf
file_size: 5750361
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2024-03-19T09:02:57Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 121'
isi: 1
issue: '11'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1091-6490
issn:
- 0027-8424
publication_status: published
publisher: National Academy of Sciences
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Frequent horizontal chromosome transfer between asexual fungal insect pathogens
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by_nc_nd.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
short: CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 121
year: '2024'
...
---
_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.
Nature Ecology and Evolution. 2023;7:450-460. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
apa: Stock, M., Milutinovic, B., Hönigsberger, M., Grasse, A. V., Wiesenhofer, F.,
Kampleitner, N., … Cremer, S. (2023). Pathogen evasion of social immunity. Nature
Ecology and Evolution. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6
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.” Nature Ecology and
Evolution. Springer Nature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6.
ieee: M. Stock et al., “Pathogen evasion of social immunity,” Nature Ecology
and Evolution, 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.” Nature Ecology
and Evolution, vol. 7, Springer Nature, 2023, pp. 450–60, doi:10.1038/s41559-023-01981-6.
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:
- access_level: open_access
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'
...
---
_id: '12696'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Background: Fighting disease while fighting rivals exposes males to constraints
and tradeoffs during male-male competition. We here tested how both the stage
and intensity of infection with the fungal pathogen Metarhizium robertsii interfered
with fighting success in Cardiocondyla obscurior ant males. Males of this species
have evolved long lifespans during which they can gain many matings with the young
queens of the colony, if successful in male-male competition. Since male fights
occur inside the colony, the outcome of male-male competition can further be biased
by interference of the colony’s worker force.\r\nResults: We found that severe,
but not yet mild, infection strongly impaired male fighting success. In late-stage
infection, this could be attributed to worker aggression directed towards the
infected rather than the healthy male and an already very high male morbidity
even in the absence of fighting. Shortly after pathogen exposure, however, male
mortality was particularly increased during combat. Since these males mounted
a strong immune response, their reduced fighting success suggests a trade-off
between immune investment and competitive ability already early in the infection.
Even if the males themselves showed no difference in the number of attacks they
raised against their healthy rivals across infection stages and levels, severely
infected males were thus losing in male-male competition from an early stage of
infection on.\r\nConclusions: Males of the ant C. obscurior have evolved high
immune investment, triggering an effective immune response very fast after fungal
exposure. This allows them to cope with mild pathogen exposures without cost to
their success in male-male competition, and hence to gain multiple mating opportunities
with the emerging virgin queens of the colony. Under severe infection, however,
they are weak fighters and rarely survive a combat already at early infection
when raising an immune response, as well as at progressed infection, when they
are morbid and preferentially targeted by worker aggression. Workers thereby remove
males that pose a future disease threat by biasing male-male competition. Our
study thus revealed a novel social immunity mechanism how social insect workers
protect the colony against disease risk."
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: "We are thankful to Mike Bidochka for the fungal strain, Lukas Schrader
for sharing the C. obscurior genome data for primer development, the Lab Support
Facility of ISTA for general laboratory support and help with the permit approval
procedures, and the Finca El Quinto for letting us collect ants on their property.
We thank the Social Immunity Team at ISTA for help with ant collection and experimental
help, in particular Elina Hanhimäki and Marta Gorecka for behavioural observation,
and Elisabeth Naderlinger for spore load PCRs. We further thank the Social Immunity
Team and Jürgen Heinze for continued discussion and comments on the manuscript.\r\nOpen
access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). This
project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European
Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 771402
to SC). "
article_number: '37'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sina
full_name: Metzler, Sina
id: 48204546-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Metzler
orcid: 0000-0002-9547-2494
- first_name: Jessica
full_name: Kirchner, Jessica
id: 21516227-15aa-11ec-9fb2-c6e8ffc155d3
last_name: Kirchner
- first_name: Anna V
full_name: Grasse, Anna V
id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Metzler S, Kirchner J, Grasse AV, Cremer S. Trade-offs between immunity and
competitive ability in fighting ant males. BMC Ecology and Evolution. 2023;23.
doi:10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7
apa: Metzler, S., Kirchner, J., Grasse, A. V., & Cremer, S. (2023). Trade-offs
between immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males. BMC Ecology
and Evolution. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7
chicago: Metzler, Sina, Jessica Kirchner, Anna V Grasse, and Sylvia Cremer. “Trade-Offs
between Immunity and Competitive Ability in Fighting Ant Males.” BMC Ecology
and Evolution. Springer Nature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7.
ieee: S. Metzler, J. Kirchner, A. V. Grasse, and S. Cremer, “Trade-offs between
immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males,” BMC Ecology and Evolution,
vol. 23. Springer Nature, 2023.
ista: Metzler S, Kirchner J, Grasse AV, Cremer S. 2023. Trade-offs between immunity
and competitive ability in fighting ant males. BMC Ecology and Evolution. 23,
37.
mla: Metzler, Sina, et al. “Trade-Offs between Immunity and Competitive Ability
in Fighting Ant Males.” BMC Ecology and Evolution, vol. 23, 37, Springer
Nature, 2023, doi:10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7.
short: S. Metzler, J. Kirchner, A.V. Grasse, S. Cremer, BMC Ecology and Evolution
23 (2023).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2023-02-28T07:38:17Z
date_published: 2023-08-07T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-04-14T07:47:53Z
day: '07'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '001042643600002'
pmid:
- '37550612'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 95966dc7d242d2c85bdd4fe14233dbd8
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
date_updated: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
file_id: '14048'
file_name: 2023_BMCEcology_Metzler.pdf
file_size: 2004276
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 23'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication: BMC Ecology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 2730-7182
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
record:
- id: '12693'
relation: research_data
status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Trade-offs between immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males
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: 23
year: '2023'
...
---
_id: '13127'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Cooperative disease defense emerges as group-level collective behavior, yet
how group members make the underlying individual decisions is poorly understood.
Using garden ants and fungal pathogens as an experimental model, we derive the
rules governing individual ant grooming choices and show how they produce colony-level
hygiene. Time-resolved behavioral analysis, pathogen quantification, and probabilistic
modeling reveal that ants increase grooming and preferentially target highly-infectious
individuals when perceiving high pathogen load, but transiently suppress grooming
after having been groomed by nestmates. Ants thus react to both, the infectivity
of others and the social feedback they receive on their own contagiousness. While
inferred solely from momentary ant decisions, these behavioral rules quantitatively
predict hour-long experimental dynamics, and synergistically combine into efficient
colony-wide pathogen removal. Our analyses show that noisy individual decisions
based on only local, incomplete, yet dynamically-updated information on pathogen
threat and social feedback can lead to potent collective disease defense.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: We thank Mike Bidochka for the fungal strains, the ISTA Social Immunity
Team for ant collection, Hanna Leitner for experimental and molecular support, Jennifer
Robb and Lukas Lindorfer for microscopy, and the LabSupport Facility at ISTA for
general laboratory support. We further thank Victor Mireles, Iain Couzin, Fabian
Theis and the Social Immunity Team for continued feedback throughout, and Michael
Sixt, Yuko Ulrich, Koos Boomsma, Erika Dawson, Megan Kutzer and Hinrich Schulenburg
for comments on the manuscript. This project has received funding from the European
Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
program (Grant No. 771402; EPIDEMICSonCHIP) to SC, from the Scientific Grant Agency
of the Slovak Republic (Grant No. 1/0521/20) to KB, and the Human Frontier Science
Program (Grant No. RGP0065/2012) to GT.
article_number: '3232'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Barbara E
full_name: Casillas Perez, Barbara E
id: 351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Casillas Perez
- first_name: Katarína
full_name: Bod'Ová, Katarína
id: 2BA24EA0-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Bod'Ová
orcid: 0000-0002-7214-0171
- first_name: Anna V
full_name: Grasse, Anna V
id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Gašper
full_name: Tkačik, Gašper
id: 3D494DCA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Tkačik
orcid: 0000-0002-6699-1455
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Casillas Perez BE, Bodova K, Grasse AV, Tkačik G, Cremer S. Dynamic pathogen
detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants. Nature Communications.
2023;14. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38947-y
apa: Casillas Perez, B. E., Bodova, K., Grasse, A. V., Tkačik, G., & Cremer,
S. (2023). Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene
in ants. Nature Communications. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38947-y
chicago: Casillas Perez, Barbara E, Katarina Bodova, Anna V Grasse, Gašper Tkačik,
and Sylvia Cremer. “Dynamic Pathogen Detection and Social Feedback Shape Collective
Hygiene in Ants.” Nature Communications. Springer Nature, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38947-y.
ieee: B. E. Casillas Perez, K. Bodova, A. V. Grasse, G. Tkačik, and S. Cremer, “Dynamic
pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants,” Nature
Communications, vol. 14. Springer Nature, 2023.
ista: Casillas Perez BE, Bodova K, Grasse AV, Tkačik G, Cremer S. 2023. Dynamic
pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in ants. Nature
Communications. 14, 3232.
mla: Casillas Perez, Barbara E., et al. “Dynamic Pathogen Detection and Social Feedback
Shape Collective Hygiene in Ants.” Nature Communications, vol. 14, 3232,
Springer Nature, 2023, doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38947-y.
short: B.E. Casillas Perez, K. Bodova, A.V. Grasse, G. Tkačik, S. Cremer, Nature
Communications 14 (2023).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2023-06-11T22:00:40Z
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title: Dynamic pathogen detection and social feedback shape collective hygiene in
ants
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abstract:
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text: Infections early in life can have enduring effects on an organism's development
and immunity. In this study, we show that this equally applies to developing ‘superorganisms’––incipient
social insect colonies. When we exposed newly mated Lasius niger ant queens to
a low pathogen dose, their colonies grew more slowly than controls before winter,
but reached similar sizes afterwards. Independent of exposure, queen hibernation
survival improved when the ratio of pupae to workers was small. Queens that reared
fewer pupae before worker emergence exhibited lower pathogen levels, indicating
that high brood rearing efforts interfere with the ability of the queen's immune
system to suppress pathogen proliferation. Early-life queen pathogen exposure
also improved the immunocompetence of her worker offspring, as demonstrated by
challenging the workers to the same pathogen a year later. Transgenerational transfer
of the queen's pathogen experience to her workforce can hence durably reduce the
disease susceptibility of the whole superorganism.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: ScienComp
acknowledgement: The authors are grateful to G. Tkačik and V. Mireles for advice on
data analyses and to A. Schloegl for help using the IST Austria HPC cluster for
data processing. The authors thank J. Eilenberg for providing the fungal strain
and A.V. Grasse for support with the molecular analysis. The authors also thank
the Social Immunity group at IST Austria, in particular B. Milutinović, for discussions
throughout and comments on the manuscript.
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Barbara E
full_name: Casillas Perez, Barbara E
id: 351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Casillas Perez
- first_name: Christopher
full_name: Pull, Christopher
id: 3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Pull
orcid: 0000-0003-1122-3982
- first_name: Filip
full_name: Naiser, Filip
last_name: Naiser
- first_name: Elisabeth
full_name: Naderlinger, Elisabeth
id: 31757262-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Naderlinger
- first_name: Jiri
full_name: Matas, Jiri
last_name: Matas
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Casillas Perez BE, Pull C, Naiser F, Naderlinger E, Matas J, Cremer S. Early
queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection
in incipient ant colonies. Ecology Letters. 2022;25(1):89-100. doi:10.1111/ele.13907
apa: Casillas Perez, B. E., Pull, C., Naiser, F., Naderlinger, E., Matas, J., &
Cremer, S. (2022). Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces
long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies. Ecology Letters.
Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13907
chicago: Casillas Perez, Barbara E, Christopher Pull, Filip Naiser, Elisabeth Naderlinger,
Jiri Matas, and Sylvia Cremer. “Early Queen Infection Shapes Developmental Dynamics
and Induces Long-Term Disease Protection in Incipient Ant Colonies.” Ecology
Letters. Wiley, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13907.
ieee: B. E. Casillas Perez, C. Pull, F. Naiser, E. Naderlinger, J. Matas, and S.
Cremer, “Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term
disease protection in incipient ant colonies,” Ecology Letters, vol. 25,
no. 1. Wiley, pp. 89–100, 2022.
ista: Casillas Perez BE, Pull C, Naiser F, Naderlinger E, Matas J, Cremer S. 2022.
Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease
protection in incipient ant colonies. Ecology Letters. 25(1), 89–100.
mla: Casillas Perez, Barbara E., et al. “Early Queen Infection Shapes Developmental
Dynamics and Induces Long-Term Disease Protection in Incipient Ant Colonies.”
Ecology Letters, vol. 25, no. 1, Wiley, 2022, pp. 89–100, doi:10.1111/ele.13907.
short: B.E. Casillas Perez, C. Pull, F. Naiser, E. Naderlinger, J. Matas, S. Cremer,
Ecology Letters 25 (2022) 89–100.
corr_author: '1'
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_id: '10727'
abstract:
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text: "Social insects are a common model to study disease dynamics in social animals.
Even though pathogens should thrive in social insect colonies as the hosts engage
in frequent social interactions, are closely related and live in a pathogen-rich
environment, disease outbreaks are rare. This is because social insects have evolved
mechanisms to keep pathogens at bay – and fight disease as a collective. Social
insect colonies are often viewed as “superorganisms” with division of labor between
reproductive “germ-like” queens and males and “somatic” workers, which together
form an interdependent reproductive unit that parallels a multicellular body.
Superorganisms possess a “social immune system” that comprises of collective disease
defenses performed by the workers - summarized as “social immunity”. In social
groups immunization (reduced susceptibility to a parasite upon secondary exposure
to the same parasite) can e.g. be triggered by social interactions (“social immunization”).
Social immunization can be caused by (i) asymptomatic low-level infections that
are acquired during caregiving to a contagious individual that can give an immune
boost, which can induce protection upon later encounter with the same pathogen
(active immunization) or (ii) by transfer of immune effectors between individuals
(passive immunization).\r\nIn the second chapter, I built up on a study that I
co-authored that found that low-level infections can not only be protective, but
also be costly and make the host more susceptible to detrimental superinfections
after contact to a very dissimilar pathogen. I here now tested different degrees
of phylogenetically-distant fungal strains of M. brunneum and M. robertsii in
L. neglectus and can describe the occurrence of cross-protection of social immunization
if the first and second pathogen are from the same level. Interestingly, low-level
infections only provided protection when the first strain was less virulent than
the second strain and elicited higher immune gene expression.\r\nIn the third
and fourth chapters, I expanded on the role of social immunity in sexual selection,
a so far unstudied field. I used the fungus Metarhizium robertsii and the ant
Cardiocondyla obscurior as a model, as in this species mating occurs in the presence
of workers and can be studied under laboratory conditions. Before males mate with
virgin queens in the nest they engage in fierce combat over the access to their
mating partners.\r\nFirst, I focused on male-male competition in the third chapter
and found that fighting with a contagious male is costly as it can lead to contamination
of the rival, but that workers can decrease the risk of disease contraction by
performing sanitary care.\r\nIn the fourth chapter, I studied the effect of fungal
infection on survival and mating success of sexuals (freshly emerged queens and
males) and found that worker-performed sanitary care can buffer the negative effect
that a pathogenic contagion would have on sexuals by spore removal from the exposed
individuals. When social immunity was prevented and queens could contract spores
from their mating partner, very low dosages led to negative consequences: their
lifespan was reduced and they produced fewer offspring with poor immunocompetence
compared to healthy queens. Interestingly, cohabitation with a late-stage infected
male where no spore transfer was possible had a positive effect on offspring immunity
– male offspring of mothers that apparently perceived an infected partner in their
vicinity reacted more sensitively to fungal challenge than male offspring without
paternal pathogen history."
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
alternative_title:
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full_name: Metzler, Sina
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orcid: 0000-0002-9547-2494
citation:
ama: Metzler S. Pathogen-mediated sexual selection and immunization in ant colonies.
2022. doi:10.15479/AT:ISTA:10727
apa: Metzler, S. (2022). Pathogen-mediated sexual selection and immunization
in ant colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:10727
chicago: Metzler, Sina. “Pathogen-Mediated Sexual Selection and Immunization in
Ant Colonies.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2022. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:10727.
ieee: S. Metzler, “Pathogen-mediated sexual selection and immunization in ant colonies,”
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2022.
ista: Metzler S. 2022. Pathogen-mediated sexual selection and immunization in ant
colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
mla: Metzler, Sina. Pathogen-Mediated Sexual Selection and Immunization in Ant
Colonies. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2022, doi:10.15479/AT:ISTA:10727.
short: S. Metzler, Pathogen-Mediated Sexual Selection and Immunization in Ant Colonies,
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2022.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2022-02-04T15:45:12Z
date_published: 2022-02-07T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-07T14:30:18Z
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- _id: SyCr
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supervisor:
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id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
title: Pathogen-mediated sexual selection and immunization in ant colonies
type: dissertation
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
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...
---
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abstract:
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text: Infections early in life can have enduring effects on an organism’s development
and immunity. In this study, we show that this equally applies to developing “superorganisms”
– incipient social insect colonies. When we exposed newly mated Lasius niger ant
queens to a low pathogen dose, their colonies grew more slowly than controls before
winter, but reached similar sizes afterwards. Independent of exposure, queen hibernation
survival improved when the ratio of pupae to workers was small. Queens that reared
fewer pupae before worker emergence exhibited lower pathogen levels, indicating
that high brood rearing efforts interfere with the ability of the queen’s immune
system to suppress pathogen proliferation. Early-life queen pathogen-exposure
also improved the immunocompetence of her worker offspring, as demonstrated by
challenging the workers to the same pathogen a year later. Transgenerational transfer
of the queen’s pathogen experience to her workforce can hence durably reduce the
disease susceptibility of the whole superorganism.
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Barbara E
full_name: Casillas Perez, Barbara E
id: 351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Casillas Perez
- first_name: Christopher
full_name: Pull, Christopher
id: 3C7F4840-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Pull
orcid: 0000-0003-1122-3982
- first_name: Filip
full_name: Naiser, Filip
last_name: Naiser
- first_name: Elisabeth
full_name: Naderlinger, Elisabeth
last_name: Naderlinger
- first_name: Jiri
full_name: Matas, Jiri
last_name: Matas
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Casillas Perez BE, Pull C, Naiser F, Naderlinger E, Matas J, Cremer S. Early
queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection
in incipient ant colonies. 2021. doi:10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ
apa: Casillas Perez, B. E., Pull, C., Naiser, F., Naderlinger, E., Matas, J., &
Cremer, S. (2021). Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces
long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ
chicago: Casillas Perez, Barbara E, Christopher Pull, Filip Naiser, Elisabeth Naderlinger,
Jiri Matas, and Sylvia Cremer. “Early Queen Infection Shapes Developmental Dynamics
and Induces Long-Term Disease Protection in Incipient Ant Colonies.” Dryad, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ.
ieee: B. E. Casillas Perez, C. Pull, F. Naiser, E. Naderlinger, J. Matas, and S.
Cremer, “Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term
disease protection in incipient ant colonies.” Dryad, 2021.
ista: Casillas Perez BE, Pull C, Naiser F, Naderlinger E, Matas J, Cremer S. 2021.
Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease
protection in incipient ant colonies, Dryad, 10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ.
mla: Casillas Perez, Barbara E., et al. Early Queen Infection Shapes Developmental
Dynamics and Induces Long-Term Disease Protection in Incipient Ant Colonies.
Dryad, 2021, doi:10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ.
short: B.E. Casillas Perez, C. Pull, F. Naiser, E. Naderlinger, J. Matas, S. Cremer,
(2021).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2023-05-23T16:14:35Z
date_published: 2021-10-29T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2025-04-14T13:55:31Z
day: '29'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.5061/DRYAD.7PVMCVDTJ
ec_funded: 1
main_file_link:
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month: '10'
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project:
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call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
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abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Social insect colonies tend to have numerous members which function together
like a single organism in such harmony that the term ``super-organism'' is often
used. In this analogy the reproductive caste is analogous to the primordial germ\r\ncells
of a metazoan, while the sterile worker caste corresponds to somatic cells. The
worker castes, like tissues, are\r\nin charge of all functions of a living being,
besides reproduction. The establishment of new super-organismal units\r\n(i.e.
new colonies) is accomplished by the co-dependent castes. The term oftentimes
goes beyond a metaphor. We invoke it when we speak about the metabolic rate, thermoregulation,
nutrient regulation and gas exchange of a social insect colony. Furthermore, we
assert that the super-organism has an immune system, and benefits from ``social
immunity''.\r\n\r\nSocial immunity was first summoned by evolutionary biologists
to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the expected high frequency of disease
outbreak amongst numerous, closely related tightly-interacting hosts, living in
stable and microbially-rich environments, against the exceptionally scarce epidemic
accounts in natural populations. Social\r\nimmunity comprises a multi-layer assembly
of behaviours which have evolved to effectively keep the pathogenic enemies of
a colony at bay. The field of social immunity has drawn interest, as it becomes
increasingly urgent to stop\r\nthe collapse of pollinator species and curb the
growth of invasive pests. In the past decade, several mechanisms of\r\nsocial
immune responses have been dissected, but many more questions remain open.\r\n\r\nI
present my work in two experimental chapters. In the first, I use invasive garden
ants (*Lasius neglectus*) to study how pathogen load and its distribution among
nestmates affect the grooming response of the group. Any given group of ants will
carry out the same total grooming work, but will direct their grooming effort
towards individuals\r\ncarrying a relatively higher spore load. Contrary to expectation,
the highest risk of transmission does not stem from grooming highly contaminated
ants, but instead, we suggest that the grooming response likely minimizes spore
loss to the environment, reducing contamination from inadvertent pickup from the
substrate.\r\n\r\nThe second is a comparative developmental approach. I follow
black garden ant queens (*Lasius niger*) and their colonies from mating flight,
through hibernation for a year. Colonies which grow fast from the start, have
a lower chance of survival through hibernation, and those which survive grow at
a lower pace later. This is true for colonies of naive\r\nand challenged queens.
Early pathogen exposure of the queens changes colony dynamics in an unexpected
way: colonies from exposed queens are more likely to grow slowly and recover in
numbers only after they survive hibernation.\r\n\r\nIn addition to the two experimental
chapters, this thesis includes a co-authored published review on organisational\r\nimmunity,
where we enlist the experimental evidence and theoretical framework on which this
hypothesis is built,\r\nidentify the caveats and underline how the field is ripe
to overcome them. In a final chapter, I describe my part in\r\ntwo collaborative
efforts, one to develop an image-based tracker, and the second to develop a classifier
for ant\r\nbehaviour."
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: Bio
- _id: ScienComp
- _id: M-Shop
- _id: LifeSc
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Barbara E
full_name: Casillas Perez, Barbara E
id: 351ED2AA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Casillas Perez
citation:
ama: Casillas Perez BE. Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen.
2019. doi:10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435
apa: Casillas Perez, B. E. (2019). Collective defenses of garden ants against
a fungal pathogen. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435
chicago: Casillas Perez, Barbara E. “Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against
a Fungal Pathogen.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019. https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435.
ieee: B. E. Casillas Perez, “Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal
pathogen,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019.
ista: Casillas Perez BE. 2019. Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal
pathogen. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
mla: Casillas Perez, Barbara E. Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against a
Fungal Pathogen. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019, doi:10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435.
short: B.E. Casillas Perez, Collective Defenses of Garden Ants against a Fungal
Pathogen, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2019.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2019-05-13T08:58:35Z
date_published: 2019-05-07T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-08T14:02:12Z
day: '07'
ddc:
- '570'
- '006'
- '578'
- '592'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.15479/AT:ISTA:6435
ec_funded: 1
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creator: casillas
date_created: 2019-05-13T09:16:20Z
date_updated: 2021-02-11T11:17:15Z
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relation: source_file
file_date_updated: 2021-02-11T11:17:15Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
keyword:
- Social Immunity
- Sanitary care
- Social Insects
- Organisational Immunity
- Colony development
- Multi-target tracking
language:
- iso: eng
month: '05'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: '183'
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '771402'
name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
related_material:
record:
- id: '1999'
relation: part_of_dissertation
status: public
status: public
supervisor:
- first_name: Sylvia M
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia M
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
title: Collective defenses of garden ants against a fungal pathogen
type: dissertation
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
year: '2019'
...