Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

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Functional genomic analysis of prophylactic immune system activation.

Eusociality is not only associated with a selective advantage for individuals compared with solitary life-styles due to synergistic effects of cooperation on the productivity, but also with an increased infection risk as the high density and relatedness of individuals enhance pathogen transmission. The more surprising, that only a reduced number of immune genes - compared to Drosophila and Anopholes (Evans et al., 2006) ­- contribute to the Hymenopterans innate immune system. This lack of immune genes might be compensated by group-level defenses - also referred to as social immunity (Cremer et al., 2007). Thus, social insects encounter the high infection risk by the combination of individual- and group-level defenses.

As immune responses are costly at the individual level, a plastic response of the immune system towards the risk of infection and hence the group size is expected to be adaptive. We want to examine such density dependent effects on the immune system using the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) trying to decipher the gene regulatory network underlying the socially mediated immune prophylaxis. Therefore we want to compare individuals that vary with respect to the social context (single vs. group kept bumblebees) as well as their infection status (infected vs. non-infected). Hence, it is possible to contrast an induced immune response with the prophylactic, social context dependent one. To gain insight into the complex regulatory network, a transcriptome analysis by means of massively parallel sequencing of transcripts will be done. This allows for global analyses of involved molecular pathways. Using network analyses to explore the correlated transcriptional response of genes, we will be able to determine the major hub genes involved in the socially mediated immune response.

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