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Coincubation Assay for Quantifying Competitive Interactions between Vibrio fischeri Isolates

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Social immunity modulates competition between coinfecting pathogens.

Barbara Milutinović¹, Miriam Stock¹, Anna V Grasse¹

¹IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Am Campus 1, 3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria.

Ecology Letters

|January 18, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Social immunity in ants modulates pathogen competition during coinfections. Ant social behaviors reduce disease severity but alter fungal spore production, especially with diverse pathogen species.

Keywords:

multiple infections pathogen competition pathogen diversity social insects Argentine ants Metarhizium fungus grooming host-pathogen interactions immune-mediated competition infectious disease

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Social Behavior

Background:

Coinfections with multiple pathogens create complex within-host dynamics impacting virulence and transmission.
The influence of social host interactions on pathogen competition, particularly in coinfections of varying diversity, remains poorly understood.

Discussion:

Ant social immunity, a form of collective disease defense, was investigated for its effects on fungal pathogen competition in coinfections.
Social immunity reduced overall virulence but selectively interfered with spore production in coinfections involving different fungal species.

Key Insights:

Social immunity decreased total pathogen sporulation but increased co-sporulation on individual ant cadavers.
Host sanitary behaviors, modeled mathematically, can shift competitive advantages towards pathogens less sensitive to grooming, like fast-germinating fungi.
Social interactions significantly modulate infection dynamics in coinfected individuals, impacting pathogen communities at both host and population levels.

Outlook:

Understanding social immunity's role in modulating coinfection dynamics is crucial for predicting disease spread in social organisms.
Further research could explore how different social structures and pathogen types interact to shape within-host and population-level disease outcomes.