Immune defence in bumble-bee offspring

Yannick Moret () and Paul Schmid-Hempel
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Yannick Moret: Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Ecology and Evolution
Paul Schmid-Hempel: Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Ecology and Evolution

Nature, 2001, vol. 414, issue 6863, 506-506

Abstract: Abstract Immune-challenged vertebrate females transfer specific antibodies to their offspring1,2,3, but this gratuitous immunity cannot operate in invertebrates4. Here we show that constitutive immune defence is enhanced in sexual offspring of the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris L. when the parental colony is immune-challenged. Our findings indicate that invertebrates may use a different component of the immune system to generate a facultative trans-generational increase in the immune response.

Date: 2001
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DOI: 10.1038/35107138

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