Data from: Social cues trigger differential immune investment strategies in a non-social insect, Tenebrio molitor

Social immunisation is a horizontal transfer of immunity which protects naïve hosts against infection following exposure to infected nestmates. Whilst mainly documented in eusocial insects, non-social species also share similar ecological features which favour the development of group-level immunity. Here we investigate social immunisation in Tenebrio molitor, by pairing naïve females with a pathogen-challenged conspecific for 72 h before measuring a series of immune and fitness traits. We found no evidence for social immunisation, as beetles who cohabited with a live-bacteria-challenged conspecific were not better protected against bacterial-challenge. However, exposure to a heat-killed-bacteria-challenged conspecific appeared to increase pathogen tolerance, which manifested in differential fitness investment. Our results together suggest that T. molitor do respond to immune-related cues in the social environment, despite not showing a classic immunisation response as predicted.社会免疫（Social immunisation）是一种免疫水平转移现象，指未致敏宿主（naïve hosts）在接触受感染的巢伴后可获得感染保护能力。尽管该现象目前主要在真社会性昆虫（eusocial insects）中被报道，但非社会性物种也具备相似的生态特征，这些特征有利于群体水平免疫（group-level immunity）的形成。本研究以黄粉虫（Tenebrio molitor）为研究对象，将未致敏雌虫与经病原体刺激的同种个体（conspecific）共同饲养72小时，随后测定一系列免疫相关性状与适合度性状（fitness traits）。研究未发现社会免疫的直接证据：与经活细菌刺激的同种个体共居的甲虫，在后续细菌攻击（bacterial-challenge）试验中并未获得更强的感染保护能力。不过，与经热灭活细菌刺激的同种个体接触后，受试甲虫的病原体耐受（pathogen tolerance）能力似乎有所提升，该效应体现在其适合度投资（fitness investment）的差异上。综合以上结果表明，尽管未出现预期的典型免疫应答，但黄粉虫（T. molitor）确实能够响应社会环境中的免疫相关信号。