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Prato A, Fernando Santos E, Mendes Ferreira H, Akemi Oi C, Santos do Nascimento F, Rantala MJ, Krams I, Rodrigues de Souza A. Immune response in paper wasp workers: Task matters more than age. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2024; 154:104629. [PMID: 38430966 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2024.104629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Workers of social hymenopterans (ants, bees and wasps) display specific tasks depending on whether they are younger or older. The relative importance of behavior and age in modulating immune function has seldom been addressed. We compared the strength of encapsulation-melanization immune response (hereafter melanotic encapsulation) in paper wasps displaying age polyethism or experimentally prevented from behavioral specialization. Foragers of Polybia paulista had higher melanotic encapsulation than guards, regardless of their age. Nevertheless, melanotic encapsulation decreased with age when wasps were prevented from behavioral specialization. Thus, in this species, worker melanotic encapsulation seems more sensitive to task than age. Foraging is considered one of the riskier behaviors in terms of pathogen exposure, so upregulating melanotic encapsulation in foragers can possibly improve both individual and colony-level resistance against infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Prato
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.
| | - Eduardo Fernando Santos
- Departamento de Zoologia e Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho", São José do Rio Preto, Brasil
| | | | - Cintia Akemi Oi
- Laboratory of Socioecology and Social Evolution, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Biodiversity and Environmental Research, Department of Genetics and Evolution, UCL, London, United Kingdom
| | - Fábio Santos do Nascimento
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
| | | | - Indrikis Krams
- Department of Biotechnology, Daugavpils University, Latvia; Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Latvia; Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Estonia
| | - André Rodrigues de Souza
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil
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Wolz M, Rueckert S, Müller C. Fluctuating Starvation Conditions Modify Host-Symbiont Relationship Between a Leaf Beetle and Its Newly Identified Gregarine Species. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.850161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Gregarines are ubiquitous endosymbionts in invertebrates, including terrestrial insects. However, the biodiversity of gregarines is probably vastly underestimated and the knowledge about their role in shaping fitness-related traits of their host in dependence of fluctuating environmental conditions is limited. Using morphological and molecular analyses, we identified a new gregarine species, Gregarina cochlearium sp. n., in the mustard leaf beetle, Phaedon cochleariae. Applying a full-factorial design, we investigated the effects of a gregarine infection in combination with fluctuating starvation conditions during the larval stage on the development time and fitness-related traits of adult beetles. Under benign environmental conditions, the relationship between gregarines and the host seemed neutral, as host development, body mass, reproduction and survival were not altered by a gregarine infection. However, when additionally exposed to starvation, the combination of gregarine infection and this stress resulted in the lowest reproduction and survival of the host, which points to a parasitic relationship. Furthermore, when the host experienced starvation, the development time was prolonged and the adult females were lighter compared to non-starved individuals, independent of the presence of gregarines. Counting of gregarines in the guts of larvae revealed a lower gregarine load with increasing host body mass under stable food conditions, which indicates a regulation of the gregarine burden in dependence of the host condition. Contrary, in starved individuals the number of gregarines was the highest, hence the already weakened host suffered additionally from a higher gregarine burden. This interactive effect between gregarine infection and fluctuating starvation conditions led to an overall reduced fitness of P. cochleariae. Our study emphasizes the need to study endosymbionts as important components of the natural environment and to investigate the role of host-symbiont relationships under fluctuating environmental conditions in an evolutionary and ecological context.
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Lima dos Santos SJ, Barbosa BC, Detoni M, Dias RJP, Prezoto F. First record of eugregarines (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinorida) parasitizing the neotropical social wasp Polistes versicolor (Vespidae: Polistinae) in Brazil. STUDIES ON NEOTROPICAL FAUNA AND ENVIRONMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/01650521.2021.1897380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Júlio Lima dos Santos
- Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Bioacústica (LABEC), Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
| | - Bruno Corrêa Barbosa
- Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Bioacústica (LABEC), Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
| | - Mateus Detoni
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Roberto Júnio Pedroso Dias
- Laboratório de Protozoologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
| | - Fabio Prezoto
- Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Bioacústica (LABEC), Programa de Pós-graduação em Biodiversidade e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
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First record of gregarine protists (Apicomplexa: Sporozoa) in Asian fungus-growing termite Macrotermes barneyi (Blattaria: Termitidae). Sci Rep 2021; 11:989. [PMID: 33441676 PMCID: PMC7806973 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79671-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Macrotermes barneyi, widely distributed in southern China, is the major fungus-growing termite in the subfamily Macrotermitinae. It has no flagellated protists in the guts. Here, we report occurrence of gregarine, a protozoan parasite in the digestive tract of M. barneyi. The general morphology and ultrastructure of the gregarine gamonts and syzygies by light micrograph and scanning electron micrograph are presented. SSU rDNA sequence analysis showed that the termite gregarine has the highest identity (90.10%) to that of Gregarina blattarum from cockroaches. Phylogenetic analysis based on the SSU rDNA sequences from diverse insect eugregarines indicated that the gregarine from M. barneyi is phylogenetically close to G. blattarus, L. erratica and G. tropica from Gregarinidae and Leidyanidae families, and may represent a novel species. This study expands our knowledge about the diversity of terrestrial eugregarines parasitizing in termites.
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