Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
Ecol Lett. 2010 Sep;13(9):1114-23. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01500.x. Epub 2010 Jun 8.
Social immune systems comprise immune defences mounted by individuals for the benefit of others (sensuCotter & Kilner 2010a). Just as with other forms of immunity, mounting a social immune response is expected to be costly but so far these fitness costs are unknown. We measured the costs of social immunity in a sub-social burying beetle, a species in which two or more adults defend a carrion breeding resource for their young by smearing the flesh with antibacterial anal exudates. Our experiments on widowed females reveal that a bacterial challenge to the breeding resource upregulates the antibacterial activity of a female's exudates, and this subsequently reduces her lifetime reproductive success. We suggest that the costliness of social immunity is a source of evolutionary conflict between breeding adults on a carcass, and that the phoretic communities that the beetles transport between carrion may assist the beetle by offsetting these costs.
社会免疫系统是指个体为了他人的利益而产生的免疫防御机制（Cotter 和 Kilner 2010a）。就像其他形式的免疫一样，产生社会免疫反应预计是有代价的，但到目前为止，这些适应度成本还不得而知。我们在一种亚社会性埋葬甲虫中测量了社会免疫的成本，这种甲虫有两个或更多的成虫通过用具有抗菌作用的肛门分泌物涂抹肉体来保护其幼崽的腐肉繁殖资源。我们对丧偶雌性甲虫的实验表明，繁殖资源受到细菌的挑战会导致雌性分泌物的抗菌活性上调，而这反过来又会降低她的终生繁殖成功率。我们认为，社会免疫的代价是在腐肉上繁殖的成虫之间产生进化冲突的一个来源，而甲虫在腐肉之间运输的共生体可能会通过抵消这些成本来帮助甲虫。
