Trends in Ecology & Evolution
OpinionIs MHC enough for understanding wildlife immunogenetics?
Section snippets
The genetics of host defence against pathogens
Under natural conditions, populations and individuals are challenged constantly by pathogens, which act as one of the main selective forces influencing fitness. Thus, it is not surprising that vertebrates have evolved numerous innate and adaptive immune responses to overcome these infectious challenges. For a pathogen, the selective pressures arising from the host immune system are a major influence on the evolution of mechanisms of infectivity and of immune-recognition avoidance [1]. It is in
Immunity as a complex system
Predicting the evolutionary potential of natural populations in response to pathogens requires at least a minimal understanding of pathogenesis and immunity. The complexity of the immune system arises from pathogens not being a natural group per se, but rather a phylogenetically and antigenically diverse suite of organisms that interact at various cellular and intracellular levels with the host [12]. Immunity should not be regarded as an unambiguous event that will occur identically against all
A paradigm shift – New approaches for wildlife immunogenetic studies
Taking into consideration what we now know from studies in model vertebrates as well as the increasing availability of modern technologies (see [41]), we envisage two approaches that could be used for a broader assessment of genetic variation in pathogen susceptibility of wildlife. The first approach entails a case-tailored selection of the candidate gene(s) relevant to the infectious condition to be studied in the population; the second approach relies on a large-scale cladistic genomic survey
Conclusions and perspectives
In view of advances in molecular techniques and the available information on immune genes of humans and model vertebrates, for the first time we have the opportunity to test complex hypotheses about pathogen-mediated selection that can occur at different times during infection, such as examining the contribution of host genetics on both innate and adaptive immunity to pathogens in natural populations. This could be an important step toward characterising the genetic adaptations that lead to
Acknowledgements
We thank David Watkins, Jim McCluskey and Frank Christiansen for their stimulating discussions about this topic. Ailsa Hall, Frances Gulland and Horacio de la Cueva read through previous versions of the article and provided helpful suggestions. We also thank three anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments that helped improve the article.
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