Host-associated beneficial gut microbiota boosts induced immunity and limits immune deployment costs in bumblebees.

ABSTRACT: Ecological immunology posits that variation in host resistance to infection may be attributed partly to the ecological and evolutionary costs of immunity. While the deployment of immune defence is necessary to combat pathogenic infection, hosts pay energetic and other costs for activation. Host-associated beneficial microbiota have been shown to affect multiple host traits, including immunity, but how interactions with these microbial communities may mitigate the costs of immune activation remains an open question. For apid bees, including eusocial bumblebees, core members of the adult gut microbiota contribute to a variety of fitness-relevant traits and provide a key ecological and evolutionary relationship contributing to ecological success. Here we test the hypothesis that the host-asso

SUBMITTER: Calhoun AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12775552 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature