The effects of age and social interactions on innate immunity in a leaf-cutting ant
The effects of age and social interactions on innate immunity in a leaf-cutting ant
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.01.009
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发表时间：
2010-07-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Boomsma, Jacobus J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Armitage, Sophie A. O.;Boomsma, Jacobus J.
发展和环境因素都决定了对昂贵的免疫防御的投资。与非社会性昆虫相比，社会性昆虫工蜂对它们的先天免疫系统有不同的选择压力，因为工蜂不繁殖，它们的寿命影响亲属的健康。此外，在社会昆虫中发现的卫生行为防御可以导致真菌感染后的生存率增加，虽然它是不知道是否有调制的生理免疫防御与群体生活与独居living.Here相关，我们调查了生理免疫防御是否受年龄和短期的存在或不存在的巢在切叶蚁Acromyrmex spinosus。我们预测，老年蚂蚁会表现出免疫衰老和群体生活可能会导致预防性差异相比，孤独地保持蚂蚁的免疫防御。我们保持老年和年轻的工人单独或在nestmate组48小时，并测定了一个关键的先天免疫系统酶，表达酚氧化酶（PO）和其存储的前体（PO原），防御，立即行动，即它是组成性的。短期的独居生活并没有影响PO或PO原水平相对于组生活控制，我们没有发现任何证据的免疫衰老的PO原。然而，我们发现老年工人的活性PO显着增加，这与两个非相互排斥的解释是一致的：它可能是一种适应性反应或免疫衰老的指示。我们的研究结果表明，未来的研究免疫衰老应考虑积极的免疫效应在体内，如PO，和存储的潜力，表达免疫防御，如PO原。(C)2010爱思唯尔有限公司保留所有权利。
Both developmental and environmental factors shape investment in costly immune defences. Social insect workers have different selection pressures on their innate immune system compared to non-social insects because workers do not reproduce and their longevity affects the fitness of relatives. Furthermore, hygienic behavioural defences found in social insects can result in increased survival after fungal infection, although it is not known if there is modulation in physiological immune defence associated with group living vs. solitary living.Here we investigated whether physiological immune defence is affected by both age and the short-term presence or absence of nestmates in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex octospinosus. We predicted that older ants would show immune senescence and that group living may result in prophylactic differences in immune defence compared to solitarily kept ants. We kept old and young workers alone or in nestmate groups for 48 h and assayed a key innate immune system enzyme, expressing phenoloxidase (PO) and its stored precursor (proPO), a defence that acts immediately, i.e. it is constitutive. Short-term solitary living did not affect PO or proPO levels relative to group living controls and we found no evidence for immunosenescence in proPO. However, we found a significant increase in active PO in older workers, which is consistent with two non-mutually exclusive explanations: it could be an adaptive response or indicative of immunosenescence. Our results suggest that future studies of immunosenescence should consider both active immune effectors in the body, such as PO, and the stored potential to express immune defences, such as proPO. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.