Not going with the flow : locomotor activity does not constrain immunity in a wild fish

Immunity is a central component of fitness in wild animals, but its determinants are poorly understood. In particular, the importance of locomotory activity as a constraint on immunity is unresolved. Using a piscine model (Gasterosteus aculeatus) we combined a 25-month observational time series for a wild lotic habitat with an open flume experiment to determine the influence of locomotor activity (counter-current swimming) on natural variation in immune function. To maximize the detectability of effects in our flume experiment we set flow velocity and duration (10 cm s-1 for 48 h) just below the point at which exhaustion would ensue. Following this treatment, we measured expression in a set of immune-associated genes and infectious disease resistance through a standard challenge with an ecologically-relevant monogenean infection (Gyrodactylus gasterostei). In the wild, there was a strong association of water flow with the expression of immune-associated genes, but this association became modest and more complex when adjusted for thermal effects. Our flume experiment, although statistically well-powered and based on a scenario near the limits of swimming performance in stickleback, detected no counter-current swimming effect on immune-associated gene expression or infection resistance. The field association between flow rate and immune expression could thus be due to an indirect effect and we tentatively advance hypotheses to explain this. This study clarifies the drivers of immune investment in wild vertebrates; although locomotor activity, within the normal natural range, may not directly influence immunocompetence, it may still correlate with other variables that do

Intermediate number of major histocompatibility complex class IIB length variants relates to enlarged perivisceral fat deposits in the blunt-head cichlid Tropheus moorii

Studying the genetic basis of host-parasite interactions represents an outstanding opportunity to observe eco-evolutionary processes. Established candidates for such studies in vertebrates are immunogenes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The MHC has been reported to reach high intra- and interindividual diversity, and a diverse MHC might be advantageous when facing infections from multiple parasites. However, other studies indicated that individuals with an intermediate number of MHC alleles are less infected with parasites or have other fitness advantages. In this study, we assessed the optimal number of MHC alleles in the blunt-head cichlid Tropheus moorii from Lake Tanganyika. We investigated the influence of the interindividual variation in number of MHC length variants on parasite infection and body condition, measured by the amount of perivisceral fat reserves. Surprisingly, there was no correlation between parasite infection and number of MHC length variants or perivisceral fat deposits. However, the individual number of MHC length variants significantly correlated with the amount of perivisceral fat deposits in males, suggesting that male individuals with an intermediate number of alleles might be able to use their fat reserves more efficiently

Non-neutral evolution and reciprocal monophyly of two expressed Mhc class II B genes in Leach’s storm-petrel

The major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) is subject to pathogen-mediated balancing selection and can link natural selection with mate choice. We characterized two Mhc class II B loci in Leach’s storm-petrel, Oceanodroma leucorhoa, focusing on exon 2 which encodes the portion of the protein that binds pathogen peptides. We amplified and sequenced exon 2 with locus-specific nested PCR and Illumina MiSeq using individually barcoded primers. Repeat genotyping of 78 single-locus genotypes produced identical results in 77 cases (98.7 %). Sequencing of messenger RNA (mRNA) from three birds confirmed expression of both loci, consistent with the observed absence of stop codons or frameshifts in all alleles. In 48 birds, we found 9 and 12 alleles at the two loci, respectively, and all 21 alleles translated to unique amino acid sequences. Unlike many studies of duplicated Mhc genes, alleles of the two loci clustered into monophyletic groups. Consistent with this phylogenetic result, interlocus gene conversion appears to have affected only two short fragments of the exon. As predicted under a paradigm of pathogen-mediated selection, comparison of synonymous and non-synonymous substitution rates found evidence of a history of positive selection at putative peptide binding sites. Overall, the results suggest that the gene duplication event leading to these two loci is not recent and that point mutations and positive selection on the peptide binding sites may be the predominant forces acting on these genes. Characterization of these loci sets the stage for population-level work on the evolutionary ecology of Mhc in this species