dc.contributor.author
Pull, Christopher D.
dc.contributor.author
McMahon, Dino P.
dc.date.accessioned
2020-07-16T07:19:41Z
dc.date.available
2020-07-16T07:19:41Z
dc.identifier.uri
https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/27815
dc.identifier.uri
http://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-27568
dc.description.abstract
Social insect colonies can express adaptive, organism-like design. In some cases, colonies so resemble a unique, cohesive and integrated “individual” that they are termed superorganisms. The major evolutionary transitions framework explains, via inclusive fitness theory, how new levels of biological individuality, including genes into genomes within cells, cells into multicellular organisms and organisms into superorganisms can emerge. Importantly, it highlights how at each major transition similar challenges arose and why seemingly convergent solutions evolved. One challenge faced at each transition is exploitation, caused internally by social cheaters and externally by parasites and pathogens. To overcome the problem of exploitation transitions in biological individuality required novel immune systems to maintain the integrity of newly emerged individuals. Multicellular organisms evolved an immune system while social insect colonies evolved a social immune system. In this review, we take a major transitions perspective of immunity to highlight the interdependency between the evolution of immune systems and the emergence of biological individuality. We build on the notion that superorganisms have evolved an immune system to promote the fitness of the colony. We draw parallels between the evolution of the metazoan immune system and the social immune system, and their expression as cognitive networks. Moreover, we discuss how research on other group-living species, such as family based cooperative breeders, can inform our understanding of how social immune systems evolve. We conclude that superorganism immunity is an adaptive suite of organismal traits that evolves to maximize the fitness of advanced social insect colonies, fulfilling the same function as the immune system of Metazoa.
en
dc.rights.uri
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject
superorganism
en
dc.subject
social evolution
en
dc.subject
major evolutionary transition
en
dc.subject
social immunity
en
dc.subject.ddc
500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik::570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie::576 Genetik und Evolution
dc.title
Superorganism Immunity
dc.type
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
dc.title.subtitle
A Major Transition in Immune System Evolution
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.articlenumber
186
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.doi
10.3389/fevo.2020.00186
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.journaltitle
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.volume
8
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.00186
refubium.affiliation
Biologie, Chemie, Pharmazie
refubium.note.author
Die Publikation wurde aus Open Access Publikationsgeldern der Freien Universität Berlin gefördert.
refubium.resourceType.isindependentpub
no
dcterms.accessRights.openaire
open access
dcterms.isPartOf.eissn
2296-701X
dcterms.isPartOf.zdb
2745634-1