Experimentally increased group diversity improves disease resistance in an ant species.

Détails

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Etat: Public
Version: de l'auteur⸱e
ID Serval
serval:BIB_BA883692695A
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Experimentally increased group diversity improves disease resistance in an ant species.
Périodique
Ecology Letters
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Reber A., Castella G., Christe P., Chapuisat M.
ISSN
1461-0248[electronic], 1461-023X[linking]
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2008
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
11
Numéro
7
Pages
682-689
Langue
anglais
Résumé
A leading hypothesis linking parasites to social evolution is that more genetically diverse social groups better resist parasites. Moreover, group diversity can encompass factors other than genetic variation that may also influence disease resistance. Here, we tested whether group diversity improved disease resistance in an ant species with natural variation in colony queen number. We formed experimental groups of workers and challenged them with the fungal parasite Metarhizium anisopliae. Workers originating from monogynous colonies (headed by a single queen and with low genetic diversity) had higher survival than workers originating from polygynous ones, both in uninfected groups and in groups challenged with M. anisopliae. However, an experimental increase of group diversity by mixing workers originating from monogynous colonies strongly increased the survival of workers challenged with M. anisopliae, whereas it tended to decrease their survival in absence of infection. This experiment suggests that group diversity, be it genetic or environmental, improves the mean resistance of group members to the fungal infection, probably through the sharing of physiological or behavioural defences.
Mots-clé
Animals, Ants/genetics, Ants/immunology, Female, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Immunity, Innate, Male, Metarhizium/physiology, Microsatellite Repeats/genetics
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
26/02/2008 13:49
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 15:28
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