ArticleNature communications2023
Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- The predatory behavior of ants: an impressive panoply of morphological adaptations.Insect science · 2026Review
- Diversity, antimicrobial and herbicidal activities of actinomycetes and fungi from Hermetia illucens.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- Social immunity in a supercolonial invasive ant: Nest structure confers immune function.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The First of Us:bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Euphraticanoids N-T: Aromadendrane-Type Diterpenes and Sesquiterpenes with Fungicidal Activities fromInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Pathogen-specific social immunity is associated with erosion of individual immune function in an ant.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Feeding ecology and behavioral adaptations shape injury patterns in central European ants.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Infected wounds pose a major mortality risk in animals. Injuries are common in the ant Megaponera analis, which raids pugnacious prey. Here we show that M. analis can determine when wounds are infected and treat them accordingly. By applying a variety of antimicrobial compounds and proteins secreted from the metapleural gland to infected wounds, workers reduce the mortality of infected individuals by 90%. Chemical analyses showed that wound infection is associated with specific changes in the cuticular hydrocarbon profile, thereby likely allowing nestmates to diagnose the infection state of injured individuals and apply the appropriate antimicrobial treatment. This study demonstrates that M. analis ant societies use antimicrobial compounds produced in the metapleural glands to treat infected wounds and reduce nestmate mortality.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.