Autor(es)

Campana, Leonardo ; Cardoso Junior, Carlos Antonio Mendes ; Lourenco, Anete Pedro ; Hartfelder, Klaus

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR; v. 229, p. 15-pg., 2025-10-08.

Resumo

Living in crowded perennial nests, social insects encounter high risks of disease outbreaks and predation on colony resources. The innate immune system plays an important barrier against microbial pathogens, but its association with group defensive behaviours remains unexplored. Here we investigated the expression of innate immune system genes in the workers of three species of Brazilian stingless bees (Scaptotrigona postica, Frieseomelitta varia and Melipona quadrifasciata), which differ in worker reproductive traits and colony defence strategies. First, we standardized a behavioural arena test to assess the species-specific individual aggressiveness level of the workers. Then, we quantified the transcript levels of four core genes of the Toll and Imd pathways in the heads and abdomens for the three main life cycle stages of the workers (nurse, guard and forager). For the heads, we found a strong association between immunity gene expression and aggressiveness, with an upregulation in the heads of guards and foragers in comparison to their abdomen tissues of the aggressive species, S. postica, while the less aggressive species, especially M. quadrifasciata workers, did not show such strong upregulation. Our study establishes a potential molecular link between immunity pathways and complex social behaviours in the Brazilian stingless bees, which evolutionarily lost the sting apparatus for the defence of their colonies. (c) 2025 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 20/13296-9 - Bases moleculares da plasticidade de comportamento e das estratégias reprodutivas na evolução das histórias de vida em abelhas sem ferrão neotropicais (Meliponini)
• Beneficiário: Klaus Hartmann Hartfelder
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 20/08524-2 - Abelhas, um modelo para explorar os mecanismos epigenômicos da herança do imune primming
• Beneficiário: Carlos Antônio Mendes Cardoso Júnior
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado