---
OA_place: publisher
_id: '1404'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "The co-evolution of hosts and pathogens is characterized by continuous adaptations
    of both parties. Pathogens of social insects need to adapt towards disease defences
    at two levels: 1) individual immunity of each colony member consisting of behavioural
    defence strategies as well as humoral and cellular immune responses and 2) social
    immunity that is collectively performed by all group members comprising behavioural,
    physiological and organisational defence strategies.\r\n\r\nTo disentangle the
    selection pressure on pathogens by the collective versus individual level of disease
    defence in social insects, we performed an evolution experiment using the Argentine
    Ant, Linepithema humile, as a host and a mixture of the general insect pathogenic
    fungus Metarhizium spp. (6 strains) as a pathogen. We allowed pathogen evolution
    over 10 serial host passages to two different evolution host treatments: (1) only
    individual host immunity in a single host treatment, and (2) simultaneously acting
    individual and social immunity in a social host treatment, in which an exposed
    ant was accompanied by two untreated nestmates.\r\n\r\nBefore starting the pathogen
    evolution experiment, the 6 Metarhizium spp. strains were characterised concerning
    conidiospore size killing rates in singly and socially reared ants, their competitiveness
    under coinfecting conditions and their influence on ant behaviour. We analysed
    how the ancestral atrain mixture changed in conidiospere size, killing rate and
    strain composition dependent on host treatment (single or social hosts) during
    10 passages and found that killing rate and conidiospere size of the pathogen
    increased under both evolution regimes, but different depending on host treatment.\r\n\r\nTesting
    the evolved strain mixtures that evolved under either the single or social host
    treatment under both single and social current rearing conditions in a full factorial
    design experiment revealed that the additional collective defences in insect societies
    add new selection pressure for their coevolving pathogens that compromise their
    ability to adapt to its host at the group level. To our knowledge, this is the
    first study directly measuring the influence of social immunity on pathogen evolution."
acknowledgement: This work was funded by the DFG and the ERC.
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Miriam
  full_name: Stock, Miriam
  id: 42462816-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Stock
citation:
  ama: Stock M. Evolution of a fungal pathogen towards individual versus social immunity
    in ants. 2014.
  apa: Stock, M. (2014). <i>Evolution of a fungal pathogen towards individual versus
    social immunity in ants</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
  chicago: Stock, Miriam. “Evolution of a Fungal Pathogen towards Individual versus
    Social Immunity in Ants.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2014.
  ieee: M. Stock, “Evolution of a fungal pathogen towards individual versus social
    immunity in ants,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2014.
  ista: Stock M. 2014. Evolution of a fungal pathogen towards individual versus social
    immunity in ants. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
  mla: Stock, Miriam. <i>Evolution of a Fungal Pathogen towards Individual versus
    Social Immunity in Ants</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2014.
  short: M. Stock, Evolution of a Fungal Pathogen towards Individual versus Social
    Immunity in Ants, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2014.
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:51:49Z
date_published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-29T10:05:33Z
day: '01'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: SyCr
- _id: GradSch
doi_confirm: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '04'
oa_version: None
page: '101'
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
publist_id: '5803'
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: Evolution of a fungal pathogen towards individual versus social immunity in
  ants
type: dissertation
user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9
year: '2014'
...