The parasite's long arm: a tapeworm parasite induces behavioural changes in uninfected group members of its social host
The parasite's long arm: a tapeworm parasite induces behavioural changes in uninfected group members of its social host
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2015.1473
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发表时间：
2015-11-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Foitzik, Susanne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Beros, Sara;Jongepier, Evelien;Foitzik, Susanne
寄生虫可以诱导宿主表型的改变，以增强其自身的生存和传播。社会性昆虫的寄生虫不仅可能从改变其个体宿主中受益，而且还可能从诱导未感染群体成员的变化中受益。众所周知，感染短胸绦虫的 Temnothorax nylanderi 工蚁在化学上与巢友不同，对蚁群健康没有贡献，但在蚁群中具有耐受性并得到良好照顾。在这里，我们研究了感染绦虫的工蚁如何通过操纵它们在蚁群中的存在来影响蚁群的攻击性，并分析它们的缺席或存在是否会导致其巢友的行为改变。我们报告了寄生虫引起的蚁群攻击性的转变，表现为未受感染的巢友从被寄生的蚁群转向同种蚂蚁的攻击性降低，这可能解释了对受感染蚂蚁的耐受性。我们还证明，感染绦虫的工蜂表现出飞行反应减弱和生存率较高，而它们的存在导致未感染的巢友的生存率下降。受感染蚂蚁的这种异常行为，加上它们的存活率增加，可能会促进寄生虫传播到其最终宿主啄木鸟。我们得出的结论是，利用社会中个体的寄生虫不仅会引起其个体宿主的表型变化，还会引起未感染群体成员的表型变化。
Parasites can induce alterations in host phenotypes in order to enhance their own survival and transmission. Parasites of social insects might not only benefit from altering their individual hosts, but also from inducing changes in uninfected group members. Temnothorax nylanderi ant workers infected with the tapeworm Anomotaenia brevis are known to be chemically distinct from nest-mates and do not contribute to colony fitness, but are tolerated in their colonies and well cared for. Here, we investigated how tapeworm-infected workers affect colony aggression by manipulating their presence in ant colonies and analysing whether their absence or presence resulted in behavioural alterations in their nest-mates. We report a parasite-induced shift in colony aggression, shown by lower aggression of uninfected nest-mates from parasitized colonies towards conspecifics, potentially explaining the tolerance towards infected ants. We also demonstrate that tapeworm-infected workers showed a reduced flight response and higher survival, while their presence caused a decrease in survival of uninfected nest-mates. This anomalous behaviour of infected ants, coupled with their increased survival, could facilitate the parasites' transmission to its definitive hosts, woodpeckers. We conclude that parasites exploiting individuals that are part of a society not only induce phenotypic changes within their individual hosts, but in uninfected group members as well.