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Social isolation causes downregulation of immune and stress response genes and behavioural changes in a social insect
Author(s) -
Scharf I,
Stoldt Marah,
Libbrecht Romain,
Höpfner Anna Lena,
Jongepier Evelien,
Kever Marion,
Foitzik Susanne
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.15902
Subject(s) - sociality , biology , social isolation , social stress , social animal , immune system , stressor , isolation (microbiology) , social grooming , transcriptome , gene , ecology , gene expression , genetics , zoology , neuroscience , psychology , bioinformatics , psychotherapist
Humans and other social mammals experience isolation from their group as stressful, triggering behavioural and physiological anomalies that reduce fitness. While social isolation has been intensely studied in social mammals, it is less clear how social insects, which evolved sociality independently, respond to isolation. Here we examined whether the typical mammalian responses to social isolation, e.g., an impaired ability to interact socially and immune suppression are also found in social insects. We studied the consequences of social isolation on behaviour and brain gene expression in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi . Following isolation, workers interacted moderately less with adult nestmates, increased the duration of brood contact, and reduced the time spent self‐grooming, an important sanitary behaviour. Our brain transcriptome analysis revealed that only a few behaviour‐related genes had altered their expression with isolation time. Rather, many genes linked to immune system functioning and stress response had been downregulated. This probably sensitizes isolated individuals to various stressors, in particular because isolated workers exhibit reduced sanitary behaviour. We provide evidence of the diverse consequences of social isolation in social insects, some of which resemble those found in social mammals, suggesting a general link between social well‐being, stress tolerance, and immune competence in social animals.