Genetic Component of Great Gerbil’s Susceptibility to Plague Infection

Abstract

The susceptibility of the great gerbil to the causative agent of plague is genetically determined. However, there is not enough information on the involved genes and their effect on this feature in the literature. Although the sensitivity of gerbils to plague microbe may depend on many genes, this feature can be described using a monogenic model of inheritance with one gene. In addition to the genetic component, other modifying factors of biotic and abiotic nature may influence the sensitivity of a great gerbil to infection.The aim of the work was to evaluate the role of genetic and modifying factors in the variation of the sensitivity of the great gerbil to the causative agent of plague. For this, a one-factor analysis of variance was used. The strength of the effect of the intensity of plague epizootics on sensitivity was calculated by the method of Plokhinsky. As a result, it was found that approximately 87 ± 3.9 % of the total variation of the sensitivity sign is due to its genetic component and about 13 % to the share of other factors affecting the characteristic (modifying factors). The conclusion is made that while in studies on the sensitivity of rodents the effect on regulation of the immune response (specific for specific antigens) has not been demonstrated, it is necessary to talk about the general infectious sensitivity of rodents to infections, for example, the causative agent of plague.