10.5061/DRYAD.16H1T
Tschirren, Barbara
University of Exeter
Andersson, Martin
Lund University
Scherman, Kristin
Lund University
Westerdahl, Helena
Lund University
Mittl, Peer R. E.
University of Zurich
Raberg, Lars
Lund University
Data from: Polymorphisms at the innate immune receptor TLR2 are associated
with Borrelia infection in a wild rodent population
Dryad
dataset
2013
wildlife disease
Borrelia
Myodes glareolus
Toll-like receptor
2013-05-22T16:48:59Z
2013-05-22T16:48:59Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0364
10453 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The discovery of the key role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in initiating
innate immune responses and modulating adaptive immunity has
revolutionised our understanding of vertebrate defence against pathogens.
Yet, despite their central role in pathogen recognition and defence
initiation, there is little information on how variation in TLRs
influences disease susceptibility in natural populations. Here we assessed
the extent of naturally occurring polymorphisms at TLR2 in wild bank voles
(Myodes glareolus) and tested for associations between TLR2 variants and
infection with Borrelia afzelii, a common tick-transmitted pathogen in
rodents and one of the causative agents of human Lyme disease. Bank voles
in our population had 15 different TLR2 haplotypes (ten different
haplotypes at the amino acid level), which grouped in three well-separated
clusters. In a large-scale capture-mark-recapture study we show that voles
carrying TLR2 haplotypes of one particular cluster (TLR2c2) were almost
three times less likely to be Borrelia-infected than animals carrying
other haplotypes. Moreover, neutrality tests suggested that TLR2 has been
under positive selection. This is the first demonstration of an
association between TLR polymorphism and parasitism in wildlife, and a
striking example that genetic variation at innate immune receptors can
have a large impact on host resistance.
TLR2_BorreliaBorrelia infection status of adult bank voles, their TLR2
genotype and sex
Sweden