Immunology in wild nonmodel rodents : an ecological context for studies of health and disease

Jackson, JA

Abstract

Transcriptomic methods are set to revolutionize the study of
the immune system in naturally occurring nonmodel organisms.
With this in mind, the present article focuses on ways in which the use of ‘nonmodel’ rodents (not the familiar laboratory species) can advance studies into the classical, but ever relevant, epidemiologic triad of immune defence, infectious disease and environment. For example, naturally occurring rodents are an interesting system in which to study the environmental stimuli that drive the development and homeostasis of the immune system and, by extension, to
identify where these stimuli are altered in anthropogenic
environments leading to the formation of immunopathological
phenotypes. Measurement of immune expression may help define individual heterogeneity in infectious disease susceptibility and transmission and facilitate our understanding of infection dynamics and risk in the natural environment; furthermore, it may provide a means of surveillance that can filter individuals carrying previously unknown acute infections of potential ecological or zoonotic importance. Finally, the study of immunology in wild animals may reveal interactions within the immune system and between immunity and other organismal traits that are not observable under restricted laboratory conditions. Potentiating much of this is the possibility of combining gene expression profiles with analytical tools derived from ecology and systems biology to reverse engineer interaction networks between immune responses, other organismal traits and the environment (including symbiont exposures), revealing regulatory architecture.
Such holistic studies promise to link ecology, epidemiology
and immunology in natural systems in a unified approach that can illuminate important problems relevant to
human health and animal welfare and production.

Citation

Jackson, J. (2015). Immunology in wild nonmodel rodents : an ecological context for studies of health and disease. Parasite Immunology, 37(5), 220-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/pim.12180

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 4, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Feb 16, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 27, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 8, 2016
• Journal: Parasite Immunology
• Print ISSN: 0141-9838
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-3024
• Publisher: Wiley
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 220-232
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pim.12180
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pim.12180
• Related Public URLs: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-3024
• Additional Information: Grant Number: NE/L013517/1; Grant Number: RPG-30