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  4. A Controlled Test of Risk-Dependent Immune Investment in a Clonal Ant
 
preprint

A Controlled Test of Risk-Dependent Immune Investment in a Clonal Ant

Li, Zimai
•
Ng, Tze Hann
•
Keller, Jean
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September 28, 2025

Biological systems can benefit from distributing defensive investment unevenly, concentrating protection in parts of the system that face higher risk or hold greater strategic value. In social groups, individuals often face asymmetric infection risks based on their behavioural roles, raising the possibility that immune defences are plastically adjusted according to risk. In social insects, this idea has led to the hypothesis that individuals performing high-risk tasks, such as foraging, should invest more in constitutive immune defences to reduce transmission within the colony. However, testing this hypothesis has been hindered by confounding effects of genotype, age, and infection history. We use the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi to overcome these limitations. In this system, spontaneous behavioural specialisation between genetically identical, age-matched individuals creates variation in infection risk, while controlling for other sources of variation. We first annotated the O. biroi immune gene repertoire and sequenced the transcriptomes of individuals that showed considerable behavioural variation. We then combined fine-scale individual behavioural tracking with three complementary measures of immune investment: immune-related gene expression, antibacterial activity, and survival following infection. Despite behavioural specialisation, we find no evidence that individuals engaging in higher-risk behaviours invest more in constitutive immune defences. These results contradict a long-standing hypothesis in the field and suggest limits to plastic immune allocation based on infection risk in social insect colonies.

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Type
preprint
DOI
10.1101/2025.09.27.678936
Author(s)
Li, Zimai

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Ng, Tze Hann

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Keller, Jean

Laboratoire de Recherche en Sciences Végétales

Masson, Florent

University of Bristol

Grabenweger, Giselher

Agroscope

Lemaître, Bruno  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Stroeymeyt, Nathalie

University of Bristol

Kaltenpoth, Martin

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Ulrich, Yuko

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Date Issued

2025-09-28

Publisher

bioRxiv

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
UPLEM  
FunderGrant Number

851523 ; 802628

Available on Infoscience
October 3, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/254650
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