Evolutionary Consequences of Social Isolation

Bailey, Nathan W.; Moore, Allen J.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2018.05.008

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…In conclusion, our results show a complex relationship between social environment and immunity in flies. Social contact either improved lifespan after bacterial infection or did not affect it at all, in contrast to other types of immune elicitor such as injury (Leech et al., ), evidence that the evolutionary consequences of social contact or isolation are not identical across traits (Bailey & Moore, ). Likewise, there was not a consistent pattern in phagocytic responsiveness or expression of the genes measured here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social environments have multifaceted effects on individual physiology and behaviour, even in animals not classically thought of as “social” (Bailey & Moore, ; Cacioppo, Hawkley, Norman, & Berntson, ). Social isolation is often viewed as negative (Hawkley & Capitanio, ) though this is being challenged (Bailey & Moore, ). For example, social contact can be risky because it is necessary to the transmission of communicable diseases (Godfrey, Bull, James, & Murray, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interactive effects of social environment, age and sex on immune responses in Drosophila melanogaster

Leech

Evison

Armitage

et al. 2019

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Social environments have been shown to have multiple effects on individual immune responses. For example, increased social contact might signal greater infection risk and prompt a prophylactic upregulation of immunity. This differential investment of resources may in part explain why social environments affect ageing and lifespan. Our previous work using Drosophila melanogaster showed that single‐sex social contact reduced lifespan for both sexes. Here, we assess how social interactions (isolation or contact) affect susceptibility to infection, phagocytotic activity and expression of a subset of immune‐ and stress‐related genes in young and old flies of both sexes. Social contact had a neutral, or even improved, effect on post‐infection lifespan in older flies and reduced the expression of stress response genes in females; however, it reduced phagocytotic activity. Overall, the effects of social environment were complex and largely subtle and do not indicate a consistent effect. Together, these findings indicate that social contact in D. melanogaster does not have a predictable impact on immune responses and does not simply trade‐off immune investment with lifespan.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of social environment, age and sex on immune responses in Drosophila melanogaster

Leech

Evison

Armitage

et al. 2019

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…We investigate how mechanosensory experience, mediated by activity through DEG/ENaCs, affects structural plasticity of the PVD dendritic trees in adult C. elegans . Sensory and social isolation affect the behavior and fitness of diverse animals 29 , including primates 30 . Our findings on the plasticity of stereotypic dendritic trees of polymodal somatosensory neurons in adult nematodes, reveal mechanisms of dendritic plasticity induced by mechanosensation that may be conserved.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory experience controls dendritic structure and behavior by distinct pathways involving degenerins

Inberg

Podbilewicz

2018

Preprint

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Tree-like neurites are crucial for receiving information into neurons. It is assumed that nurturing affects the structure and function of dendrites, yet the evidence is scarce, and the mechanisms are unknown. To study whether mechanosensory experience affects dendritic morphology, we use natural mechanical stimulation of the Caenorhabditis elegans’ polymodal PVD neurons, induced by physical contacts between individuals. We found that animal isolation affects the dendritic tree structure of the PVD. Moreover, developmentally isolated animals show a decrease in their ability to respond to harsh touch. The structural and behavioral plasticity following mechanosensory deprivation are functionally independent of each other and are mediated by an array of evolutionary conserved amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channels (degenerins). Our results suggest an activity-dependent homeostatic mechanism for dendritic structural plasticity, acting downstream to mechanosensory activation of degenerins.

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“…The importance of social rearing has been evident since the 1960s and the now-controversial “Harlow monkey experiments,” which demonstrated that early-life social isolation deprives macaques of the experiences necessary to develop into functional adults ( Harlow et al, 1965 ). The ability to amicably behave and communicate with conspecifics is important to social cohesion, which in turn affects individual fitness and psychological wellness ( Heim and Nemeroff, 2001 ; Bailey and Moore, 2018 ). Neural systems have evolved to support social cohesion ( Goodson, 2013 ; Matthews and Tye, 2019 ) such that social interactions may carry positive valence ( Goodson and Wang, 2006 ), and be reinforced by the brain’s reward circuitry ( Dölen et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Experience Interacts with Serotonin to Affect Functional Connectivity in the Social Behavior Network following Playback of Social Vocalizations in Mice

Petersen

Davis

Patel

et al. 2021

eNeuro

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Past social experience affects the circuitry responsible for producing and interpreting current behaviors. The social behavior network (SBN) is a candidate neural ensemble to investigate the consequences of early-life social isolation. The SBN interprets and produces social behaviors, such as vocalizations, through coordinated patterns of activity (functional connectivity) between its multiple nuclei. However, the SBN is relatively unexplored with respect to murine vocal processing. The serotonergic system is sensitive to past experience and innervates many nodes of the SBN; therefore, we tested whether serotonin signaling interacts with social experience to affect patterns of immediate early gene (IEG; cFos) induction in the male SBN following playback of social vocalizations. Male mice were separated into either social housing of three mice per cage or into isolated housing at 18–24 d postnatal. After 28–30 d in housing treatment, mice were parsed into one of three drug treatment groups: control, fenfluramine (FEN; increases available serotonin), or pCPA (depletes available serotonin) and exposed to a 60-min playback of female broadband vocalizations (BBVs). FEN generally increased the number of cFos-immunoreactive (-ir) neurons within the SBN, but effects were more pronounced in socially isolated mice. Despite a generalized increase in cFos immunoreactivity, isolated mice had reduced functional connectivity, clustering, and modularity compared with socially reared mice. These results are analogous to observations of functional dysconnectivity in persons with psychopathologies and suggests that early-life social isolation modulates serotonergic regulation of social networks.

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Evolutionary Consequences of Social Isolation

Cited by 31 publications

References 79 publications

Interactive effects of social environment, age and sex on immune responses in Drosophila melanogaster

Interactive effects of social environment, age and sex on immune responses in Drosophila melanogaster

Sensory experience controls dendritic structure and behavior by distinct pathways involving degenerins

Social Experience Interacts with Serotonin to Affect Functional Connectivity in the Social Behavior Network following Playback of Social Vocalizations in Mice

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