Gender differences and individual variation in the immune system of the scorpionfly Panorpa vulgaris (Insecta: Mecoptera)

Kurtz, Joachim; Wiesner, Andreas; Götz, Peter; Sauer, Klaus Peter

doi:10.1016/s0145-305x(99)00057-9

Cited by 147 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Gray, 1998;Kurtz et al, 2000;Adamo et al, 2001;Vainio et al, 2004;Schwarzenbach et al, 2005) that have found a dimorphic immune response, there are also many studies in invertebrates that have failed to give support to this hypothesis. For example, Sheridan et al (2000) found no sex differences in parasite infections among arthropod hosts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inbreeding and extreme outbreeding cause sex differences in immune defence and life history traits in Epirrita autumnata

2007

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Empirical studies in vertebrates support the hypothesis that inbreeding reduces resistance against parasites and pathogens. However, studies in insects have not found any evidence that inbreeding compromises immune defence. Here we tested whether one generation of brother-sister mating or extreme outbreeding (mating between two populations) have an effect on innate immunity and life history traits in the autumnal moth, Epirrita autumnata. We show that the effect of inbreeding on immune response differed between the sexes: whereas in females, inbreeding significantly reduced encapsulation response against nylon monofilament ability, it did not have a significant effect on male immune response. There were also differences in the correlation of the immune response with other traits: in females increased immune response was positively correlated with large size, whereas in males immune response increased with a reduction in development time. Immune response differed significantly among families in males but not in females, both for the inbreeding and extreme outbreeding experiments. In conjunction with the observed immune responses to inbreeding, these data suggest that in males genetic variation for immune response is largely additive or non-directional with respect to dominance, whereas in females variation is much reduced and consists of directional dominance variance. Further, we show that encapsulation response against nylon monofilament is associated with the resistance against real pathogens suggesting that this widely used method to measure the strength of immune defence in insects is also a biologically relevant method.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inbreeding and extreme outbreeding cause sex differences in immune defence and life history traits in Epirrita autumnata

2007

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“…In marine isopods, sexual dimorphism in immunity has as yet not been investigated. In many animal species, males have lower immunocompetence than females (Skarstein and Folstad 1996;Kurtz and Sauer 1999;Verhulst et al 1999;Kurtz et al 2000;Ryder and SivaJothy 2000). In invertebrates, one explanation for the sexual dimorphism in immunity may result from diVerent life-history strategies of males and females.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A summer heat wave decreases the immunocompetence of the mesograzer, Idotea baltica

2010

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Extreme events associated with global change will impose increasing stress on coastal organisms. How strong biological interactions such as the host-parasite arms-race are modulated by environmental change is largely unknown. The immune system of invertebrates, in particular phagocytosis and phenoloxidase activity response are key defence mechanisms against parasites, yet they may be sensitive to environmental perturbations. We here simulated an extreme event that mimicked the European heat wave in 2003 to investigate the eVect of environmental change on the immunocompetence of the mesograzer Idotea baltica. Unlike earlier studies, our experiment aimed at simulation of the natural situation as closely as possible by using long acclimation, a slow increase in temperature and a natural community setting including the animals' providence with natural food sources (Zostera marina and Fucus vesiculosus). Our results demonstrate that a simulated heat wave results in decreased immunocompetence of the mesograzer Idotea baltica, in particular a drop of phagocytosis by 50%. This suggests that global change has the potential to signiWcantly aVect host-parasite interactions.

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“…Lysozyme-like activity is thought to give a constant protection against pathogens, is partly constitutive, and is involved in the lysis of bacterial cell walls (Kurtz et al, 2000). Lysozyme-like activity in the haemolymph was assessed following the protocol of Haine et al (2007): 1 ml of the thawed haemolymph was pipetted into holes (1 mm diameter), which had been punched into an agar plate containing lyophilized Micrococcus luteus bacteria.…”

Section: Lysozyme Assaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative genetics of immunity and life history under different photoperiods

et al. 2011

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Insects with complex life-cycles should optimize age and size at maturity during larval development. When inhabiting seasonal environments, organisms have limited reproductive periods and face fundamental decisions: individuals that reach maturity late in season have to either reproduce at a small size or increase their growth rates. Increasing growth rates is costly in insects because of higher juvenile mortality, decreased adult survival or increased susceptibility to parasitism by bacteria and viruses via compromised immune function. Environmental changes such as seasonality can also alter the quantitative genetic architecture. Here, we explore the quantitative genetics of life history and immunity traits under two experimentally induced seasonal environments in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. Seasonality affected the life history but not the immune phenotypes. Individuals under decreasing day length developed slower and grew to a bigger size. We found ample additive genetic variance and heritability for components of immunity (haemocyte densities, proPhenoloxidase activity, resistance against Serratia marcescens), and for the life history traits, age and size at maturity. Despite genetic covariance among traits, the structure of G was inconsistent with genetically based trade-off between life history and immune traits (for example, a strong positive genetic correlation between growth rate and haemocyte density was estimated). However, conditional evolvabilities support the idea that genetic covariance structure limits the capacity of individual traits to evolve independently. We found no evidence for GÂE interactions arising from the experimentally induced seasonality.

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Gender differences and individual variation in the immune system of the scorpionfly Panorpa vulgaris (Insecta: Mecoptera)

Cited by 147 publications

References 33 publications

Inbreeding and extreme outbreeding cause sex differences in immune defence and life history traits in Epirrita autumnata

Inbreeding and extreme outbreeding cause sex differences in immune defence and life history traits in Epirrita autumnata

A summer heat wave decreases the immunocompetence of the mesograzer, Idotea baltica

Quantitative genetics of immunity and life history under different photoperiods

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