Early‐life immune expression profiles predict later‐life health and fitness in a wild rodent

Wanelik, Klara M.; Begon, Mike; Bradley, Janette E.; Friberg, Ida M.; Taylor, Christopher H.; Jackson, Joseph A.; Paterson, Steve

Abstract

Individuals differ in the nature of the immune responses they produce, affecting dis-ease susceptibility and ultimately health and fitness. These differences have been hypothesized to have an origin in events experienced early in life that then affect trajectories of immune development and responsiveness. Here, we investigate how early- life immune expression profiles influence life history outcomes in a natural pop-ulation of field voles, Microtus agrestis, in which we are able to monitor variation be-tween and within individuals through time by repeat sampling of individually marked animals. We analysed the co-expression of 20 immune genes in early life to create a correlation network consisting of three main clusters, one of which (containing Gata3, Il10 and Il17) was associated with later- life reproductive success and susceptibility to chronic bacterial (Bartonella) infection. More detailed analyses supported associations between early- life expression of Il17 and reproductive success later in life, and of Il10expression early in life and later infection with Bartonella. We also found significant association between an Il17 genotype and the early- life expression of Il10. Our results demonstrate that immune expression profiles can be manifested during early life with effects that persist through adulthood and that shape the variability among individu-als in susceptibility to infection and fitness widely seen in natural populations.

Citation

Wanelik, K. M., Begon, M., Bradley, J. E., Friberg, I. M., Taylor, C. H., Jackson, J. A., & Paterson, S. (2023). Early‐life immune expression profiles predict later‐life health and fitness in a wild rodent. Molecular Ecology, 32(13), 3471-3482. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16950

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 30, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Apr 17, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 17, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Journal: Molecular Ecology
• Print ISSN: 0962-1083
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-294X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 13
• Pages: 3471-3482
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16950
• Keywords: Genetics, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics