Test of immune priming in the ant <i>F. selysi</i> exposed to the fungal entomopathogen <i>B. bassiana</i>.

Abstract

<p>Individual ants were challenged with a high dose of <i>B. bassiana</i> strain S2 (open symbols) or strain S3 (closed symbols) after having been initially exposed to control buffer (no priming, squares), low dose of the same strain of <i>B. bassiana</i> (homologous priming, circles), or low dose of the other strain (heterologous priming, triangles). In additional controls, the ants were exposed and “mock-challenged" with control buffer only (crosses and dashed lines). The ants were challenged either eight days (panel A, early fungal challenge) or 16 days (panel B, late fungal challenge) after the beginning of the six-day long period of primary exposure. Different letters indicate treatments that differed significantly from one another.</p