Sexual healing: mating induces a protective immune response in bumblebees.

The prevalence of sexual, as opposed to clonal, reproduction given the many costs associated with sexual recombination has been an enduring question in evolutionary biology. In addition to these often discussed costs, there are further costs associated with mating, including the induction of a costly immune response, which leaves individuals prone to infection. Here, we test whether mating results in immune activation and susceptibility to a common, ecologically important, parasite of bumblebees. We find that mating does result in immune activation as measured by gene expression of known immune genes, but that this activation improves resistance to this parasite. We conclude that although mating can corrupt immunity in some systems, it can also enhance immunity in others.

The locus of sexual selection: moving sexual selection studies into the post-genomics era.

Sexual selection drives fundamental evolutionary processes such as trait elaboration and speciation. Despite this importance, there are surprisingly few examples of genes unequivocally responsible for variation in sexually selected phenotypes. This lack of information inhibits our ability to predict phenotypic change due to universal behaviours, such as fighting over mates and mate choice. Here, we discuss reasons for this apparent gap and provide recommendations for how it can be overcome by adopting contemporary genomic methods, exploiting underutilized taxa that may be ideal for detecting the effects of sexual selection and adopting appropriate experimental paradigms. Identifying genes that determine variation in sexually selected traits has the potential to improve theoretical models and reveal whether the genetic changes underlying phenotypic novelty utilize common or unique molecular mechanisms. Such a genomic approach to sexual selection will help answer questions in the evolution of sexually selected phenotypes that were first asked by Darwin and can furthermore serve as a model for the application of genomics in all areas of evolutionary biology.

Heterogeneity in infection outcome: lessons from a bumblebee-trypanosome system.

Interactions between insect hosts and their parasites are significant because their parasites can also be parasites of humans and of species that we utilize. Host-parasite interactions are complex, even in insects, and there can be heterogeneous outcomes in infection success, load, virulence and transmission, with consequences for the evolution of hosts and their parasites, and also for epidemiology. A comprehension that the triad of host, parasite and environment interact to dictate infection outcome is key for anyone interested in host-parasite research. Studies in model systems used to good effect to characterize insect immunity and infection rarely scrutinize such heterogeneity. Evolutionary ecology studies addressing natural variation offer a window on the causes and consequences of such heterogeneity. A system at the forefront in this area is that of bumblebees and their trypanosome parasite Crithidia. Placing results and interpretations in a broader context we synthesize the plethora of work on bumblebee immunity and parasite interactions. We describe and discuss the sources of heterogeneity that should also be considered in human-relevant insect-parasite systems, including genotypic variation in both parasites and hosts, the mediating role of the environment, and explore the emerging evidence for microbiota modulating defence against parasites.