Bonneaud Camille, Pérez-Tris Javier, Federici Pierre, Chastel Olivier, Sorci Gabriele
Laboratoire de Parasitologie Evolutive Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 7103, Paris 75005, France.
Evolution. 2006 Feb;60(2):383-9.
Malaria parasites are a major cause of human mortality in tropical countries and a potential threat for wildlife, as witnessed by the malaria-induced extinction of naive Hawaiian avifauna. Identifying resistance mechanisms is therefore crucial both for human health and wildlife conservation. Patterns of malaria resistance are known to be highly polygenic in both humans and mice, with marked contributions attributed to major histocompatibility (Mhc) genes. Here we show that specific Mhc variants are linked to both increased resistance and susceptibility to malaria infection in a wild passerine species, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus). In addition, links between host immunogenetics and resistance to malaria involved population-specific alleles, suggesting local adaptation in this host-parasite interaction. This is the first evidence for a population-specific genetic control of resistance to malaria in a wild species.
疟疾寄生虫是热带国家人类死亡的主要原因，也是野生动物的潜在威胁，夏威夷原生鸟类因疟疾而灭绝就是例证。因此，识别抗药机制对人类健康和野生动物保护都至关重要。已知人类和小鼠对疟疾的抗药模式都是高度多基因的，主要组织相容性（Mhc）基因起了显著作用。在此，我们表明，在野生雀形目鸟类家麻雀（Passer domesticus）中，特定的Mhc变体与疟疾感染的抗性增加和易感性都有关联。此外，宿主免疫遗传学与疟疾抗性之间的联系涉及群体特异性等位基因，这表明在这种宿主 - 寄生虫相互作用中存在局部适应性。这是野生物种中疟疾抗性存在群体特异性遗传控制的首个证据。
