Importance of social immune system on the early evolution of social life

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Susanne Foitzik, since 2/2016
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology ; Sensory and Behavioural Biology ; Immunology
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 253852937

The evolution of social life requires that group members develop efficient strategies to limit the risks of pathogen infection. These strategies generally involve both the individual and social immune systems, the latter being defined as any form of cooperation between group members that limits the risk of disease transmission. To date, social immunity have been mostly described in eusocial insects (e.g. ants, bees, wasps and termites), making it unclear whether social immunity is a trait that has secondarily evolved in eusocial systems due to the strong pathogen pressure specifically expressed in these colonies or whether it is a prerequisite for the evolution of complex forms of social life such as eusocial systems. The proposed project aims at a better understanding of the importance of a social immune system in the early evolution of social life using the European earwig, Forficula auricularia, as a biological model. This species is ideal for the proposed project, because it offers an intermediate step in the evolution of social life. Specifically, mothers tend their young and mobile offspring for several weeks, during which they provide non-obligatory forms of care and offspring are able to both beg for food and feed for themselves. Our project proposes a comprehensive series of six experiments involving behavioral, immunological and gene expression measurements to investigate I) whether social immunity occurs through mother-offspring interactions, II) whether it takes multiple forms during family life and finally to determine III) its relative importance as compared to the individual immune system. Overall, this project will demonstrate whether social immunity is a key process in species with individuals forming temporary groups and exhibiting simple forms of social interactions. By doing so, our results should reveal the relative importance of individual and social immune systems in the emergence and persistence of family life and thus provide novel and key insights on the factors that possibly drive the early evolution of social life in insects.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Dr. Barbara Feldmeyer
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Dr. Joël Meunier, until 1/2016