Integrative Genomics Reveals the Genetics and Evolution of the Honey Bee's Social Immune System.

ABSTRACT: Social organisms combat pathogens through individual innate immune responses or through social immunity-behaviors among individuals that limit pathogen transmission within groups. Although we have a relatively detailed understanding of the genetics and evolution of the innate immune system of animals, we know little about social immunity. Addressing this knowledge gap is crucial for understanding how life-history traits influence immunity, and identifying if trade-offs exist between innate and social immunity. Hygienic behavior in the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, provides an excellent model for investigating the genetics and evolution of social immunity in animals. This heritable, colony-level behavior is performed by nurse bees when they detect and remove infected or dead brood from

SUBMITTER: Harpur BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6447389 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature