Immune genotypes, immune responses, and survival in a wild bird population

Martha J Nelson-Flower* (Corresponding Author), Leanne A Grieves, Jane M Reid, Ryan R Germain, Savo Lazic, Sabrina S Taylor, Elizabeth A MacDougall-Shackleton, Peter Arcese

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Individuals vary in their immune genotype, inbreeding coefficient f, immune responses, survival to adulthood, and adult longevity. However, whether immune genes predict survival or longevity, whether such relationships are mediated through immune responses, and how f affects immune genotype remain unclear. We use a wild song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) population in which survival to adulthood, adult longevity, and f were measured precisely, and in which immune responses have previously been assessed. We investigate four toll-like receptor (TLR) and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class IIB exon 2 genes. We test whether immune genes predict fitness (survival to adulthood or adult longevity); whether immune genes predict immune response; whether immune response predicts fitness and whether fitness, immune responses, or immune genotypes are correlated with f. We find that survival to adulthood is not associated with immune gene variation, but adult longevity is decreased by high MHC allele diversity (especially in birds that were relatively outbred), and by the presence of a specific MHC supertype. Immune responses were affected by specific immune genotypes. Survival to adulthood and adult longevity were not predicted by immune response, implying caution in the use of immune response as a predictor for fitness. We also found no relationship between f and immune genotype. This finding indicates that immune gene associations with longevity and immune response are not artefacts of f, and suggests that pathogen-mediated selection at functional loci can slow the loss of genetic variation arising from genetic drift and small population size.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3044-3059
Number of pages16
JournalMolecular Ecology
Volume32
Issue number12
Early online date26 Mar 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Tsawout and Tseycum bands for allowing us to conduct research on Mandarte Island, and to the many contributors to long-term monitoring, especially L. Keller, P. Nietlisbach, and J. Krippel. We also thank C. Ritland, A. Miscampbell, and G. Huber for their assistance in the laboratory. All work was conducted under permit of the Canadian Wildlife Service and UBC Animal Care Committee.

Funding Information:
This study was generously supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada via a Post‐doctoral Fellowship award to MJNF (PDF‐2014–454522) and a Discovery Grant to EAMS.

Data Availability Statement

Data can be accessed in Dryad at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0gb5mkm5q (Nelson-Flower et al., 2022). Novel MHC alleles have been deposited in GenBank with accession numbers OQ617125-OQ617168.

Keywords

  • immune response
  • immunoecology
  • MHC class II B exon 2
  • PHA
  • toll-like receptor

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Immune genotypes, immune responses, and survival in a wild bird population'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this