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Science 10 November 2000:
Vol. 290. no. 5494, pp. 1166 - 1168
DOI: 10.1126/science.290.5494.1166
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Reports

Survival for Immunity: The Price of Immune System Activation for Bumblebee Workers

Yannick Moret,* Paul Schmid-Hempel

Parasites do not always harm their hosts because the immune system keeps an infection at bay. Ironically, the cost of using immune defenses could itself reduce host fitness. This indirect cost of parasitism is often not visible because of compensatory resource intake. Here, workers of the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, were challenged with lipopolysaccharides and micro-latex beads to induce their immune system under starvation (i.e., not allowing compensatory intake). Compared with controls, survival of induced workers was significantly reduced (by 50 to 70%).

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Experimental Ecology, ETH-Zentrum, NW, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: moret{at}eco.umnw.ethz.ch

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)