Descripción del proyecto
Cerrar la brecha en la comprensión de la inmunidad social: el caso de las termitas
Las termitas emplean una serie de comportamientos sociales para defender a sus colonias de las enfermedades. Cuando se les presenta un congénere enfermo, cada una de las termitas decide si lo cuida o lo mata para eliminar la posibilidad de que la infección se propague. Poco se sabe de los factores conductuales e inmunológicos detrás de este comportamiento. El equipo del proyecto Carekill de las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie abordará esta cuestión. Su objetivo es sacar a la luz el papel de la dosis de patógeno y el estadio de la infección que rige el cambio de la atención a la muerte. Además, estudiará los genes que están implicados en la toma de decisiones y cómo la memoria conductual e inmunitaria influye en la toma de la decisión de cuidar o matar durante los siguientes encuentros con congéneres enfermos.
Objetivo
As epitomized by epidemics and pandemics throughout human history, including the ongoing SARS CoV-2 pandemic, social life carries risks of substantial and rapid spread of infectious diseases. Termites living in pathogen-rich environments have evolved remarkably robust social immunity mitigation strategies that effectively prevent diseases from spreading within colonies. Individual termites carefully balance whether to care for a sick nestmate and save the colony worker resources, or kill the sick nestmate to remove the risk of an infection spreading. The behavioural and immunological factors driving this dichotomy remain obscure. The CareKill action will close major gaps in our understanding the role of pathogen dose and infection stage in governing the switch from care to kill, what genes are involved in decision-making (immune pathways, neural networks, genes involved in stress), and how behavioural and immune memory impact care-kill decision making during subsequent encounters with sick nestmates. The action will capitalise on my extensive background in behavioural ecology and social immunity in termites, and integrate state-of-the-art pathogen load quantification and global gene expression analyses on actively caretaking or killing focal termites to establish if social immune memory is key to effective long-term reduction of disease risks. In doing so, this work explores novel concepts and hypotheses to close important gaps in our understanding of social immunity. CareKill will benefit from synergies of ongoing chemical ecology research in the focal termite species by my host, Michael Poulsen (University of Copenhagen), who will provide training in combining molecular techniques and termite ecology. CareKill will provide fundamental novel insights into the adaptive value of mitigation strategies that are essential to curb the spread of diseases and that allow for long-lived animal societies to sustain in the face of pathogenic threats.
Ámbito científico
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseases
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiological behavioural sciencesbehavioural ecology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputational intelligence
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-AG-UN - HORIZON Unit GrantCoordinador
1165 Kobenhavn
Dinamarca