Project description
How immune diversity influences disease spread in ants
Social interactions among species can increase the risk of disease transmission. Insects rely on innate immune defences that vary with genetic and environmental factors. Social insects enhance their defences through grooming and corpse removal. However, the link between social immunity and individual immune variation, and its effects on disease outcomes, remains poorly understood. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the AntImmuneVariation project aims to explore the impact of immune variation on pathogen transmission in the clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi. By creating immune-suppressed and immune-enhanced phenotypes, it will track infection outcomes and behaviours using automated video analysis. The project will investigate how immune variation affects disease spread and the role of collective behaviours.
Objective
In social species, frequent interactions among individuals increase the risk of disease transmission. Insects rely on innate immune defenses based on conserved molecular pathways, but immune competence varies due to genetic and environmental factors, affecting not only individual susceptibility but also the potential for onward transmission. In social insects, additional behavioral defenses, collectively termed social immunity, reduce disease spread through grooming, corpse removal, and avoidance of infected individuals. However, these group-level defenses may mask or modify the effects of individual immune variation, complicating our understanding of infection dynamics in social contexts. To what extent social immunity can buffer or amplify individual immune differences, and how immune heterogeneity among group members shapes collective disease outcomes, are questions that remain largely unexplored.
This project will investigate how immune variation scales up to influence pathogen transmission in the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi, a model well-suited for immune manipulation and behavioral tracking. I will generate immune-suppressed (CRISPR/Cas9 knockouts) and immune-enhanced (immune priming) phenotypes, and combine them with unmanipulated wild-type ants to create groups with controlled levels of immune heterogeneity. Using bacterial and fungal pathogens, I will track infection outcomes, mortality, and behavioral interactions with automated video analysis.
The results will clarify whether immune heterogeneity amplifies or mitigates disease spread, and whether its effects arise primarily from physiological protection or from collective behaviors. By bridging molecular, behavioral, and epidemiological perspectives, this work will advance our understanding of disease ecology in complex societies. More broadly, it will provide new insights into how immune variation and interventions such as vaccination influence pathogen dynamics in social systems.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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