10.5061/DRYAD.9CT33
Watson, Rebecca L.
University of Edinburgh
McNeilly, Tom N.
Moredun Foundation
Watt, Kathryn A.
University of Edinburgh
Pemberton, Josephine M.
University of Edinburgh
Pilkington, Jill G.
University of Edinburgh
Waterfall, Martin
University of Edinburgh
Hopper, Phoebe R. T.
University of Edinburgh
Cooney, Daniel
University of Edinburgh
Zamoyska, Rose
University of Edinburgh
Nussey, Daniel H.
University of Edinburgh
Hopper, Phoebe R.T.
University of Edinburgh
Data from: Cellular and humoral immunity in a wild mammal: Variation with
age & sex and association with overwinter survival
Dryad
dataset
2016
2016-11-22T16:08:02Z
2016-11-22T16:08:02Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2584
45919 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Immune defenses are expected to be crucial for survival under the
considerable parasite pressures experienced by wild animals. However, our
understanding of the association between immunity and fitness in nature
remains limited due to both the complexity of the vertebrate immune system
and the often-limited availability of immune reagents in nonmodel
organisms. Here, we use methods and reagents developed by veterinary
researchers for domestic ungulates on blood samples collected from a wild
Soay sheep population, to evaluate an unusually broad panel of immune
parameters. Our evaluation included different innate and acquired immune
cell types as well as nematode parasite-specific antibodies of different
isotypes. We test how these markers correlate with one another, how they
vary with age-group and sex, and, crucially, whether they predict
overwinter survival either within or among demographic groups. We found
anticipated patterns of variation in markers with age, associated with
immune development, and once these age trends were accounted for,
correlations among our 11 immune markers were generally weak. We found
that females had higher proportions of naïve T cells and gamma–delta T
cells than males, independent of age, while our other markers did not
differ between sexes. Only one of our 11 markers predicted overwinter
survival: sheep with higher plasma levels of anti-nematode IgG antibodies
were significantly more likely to survive the subsequent high mortality
winter, independent of age, sex, or weight. This supports a previous
finding from this study system using a different set of samples and shows
that circulating antibody levels against ecologically relevant parasites
in natural systems represent an important parameter of immune function and
may be under strong natural selection. Our data provide rare insights into
patterns of variation among age- and sex groups in different T-cell
subsets and antibody levels in the wild, and suggest that certain types of
immune response—notably those likely to be repeatable within individuals
and linked to resistance to ecologically relevant parasites—may be most
informative for research into the links between immunity and fitness under
natural conditions.
ECE-2016-07-0071 - Data