ArticleEcology and evolution2014
Immune priming and pathogen resistance in ant queens.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Current insights into insect immune memory.eLife · 2025Review
- Investigating trade-offs between ovary activation and immune protein expression in bumble bee (Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Senescence of the immune defences and reproductive trade-offs in females of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long-term disease protection in incipient ant colonies.Ecology letters · 2022Article
- The molecular tug of war between immunity and fertility: Emergence of conserved signaling pathways and regulatory mechanisms.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2020Review
- Article
- Impact of immune activation on stored sperm viability in ant queens.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Recent Advances in the Use ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Review
- Impact of soil contamination on the growth and shape of ant nests.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- Brain gene expression analyses in virgin and mated queens of fire ants reveal mating-independent and socially regulated changes.Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- Trans-generational immunization in the acrobat antBiology letters · 2018Article
- Co-founding ant queens prevent disease by performing prophylactic undertaking behaviour.BMC evolutionary biology · 2017Article
- Pleiotropic effects of juvenile hormone in ant queens and the escape from the reproduction-immunocompetence trade-off.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Alate susceptibility in ants.Ecology and evolution · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Growing empirical evidence indicates that invertebrates become more resistant to a pathogen following initial exposure to a nonlethal dose; yet the generality, mechanisms, and adaptive value of such immune priming are still under debate. Because life-history theory predicts that immune priming and large investment in immunity should be more frequent in long-lived species, we here tested for immune priming and pathogen resistance in ant queens, which have extraordinarily long life span. We exposed virgin and mated queens of Lasius niger and Formica selysi to a low dose of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, before challenging them with a high dose of the same pathogen. We found evidence for immune priming in naturally mated queens of L. niger. In contrast, we found no sign of priming in virgin queens of L. niger, nor in virgin or experimentally mated queens of F. selysi, which indicates that immune priming in ant queens varies according to mating status and mating conditions or species. In both ant species, mated queens showed higher pathogen resistance than virgin queens, which suggests that mating triggers an up-regulation of the immune system. Overall, mated ant queens combine high reproductive output, very long life span, and elevated investment in immune defense. Hence, ant queens are able to invest heavily in both reproduction and maintenance, which can be explained by the fact that mature queens will be protected and nourished by their worker offspring.
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