Freitak Dalial, Heckel David G, Vogel Heiko
Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knoell-Strasse-8, 07745 Jena, Germany.
Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Jul 22;276(1667):2617-24. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.0323. Epub 2009 Apr 15.
Trans-generational effects on immunity are well known in vertebrates and are considered in many evolutionary and ecological theories of species interaction. Maternal effects have been identified to be of special importance, and are now recognized as a mechanism for adaptive phenotypic response to environmental heterogeneity. We have previously shown that exposure to dietary non-pathogenic bacteria can induce several aspects of immune response in an insect herbivore, the cabbage semilooper (Trichoplusia ni). Here, we test the effects of this exposure on the immune status of the next generation, measuring immune parameters on three different levels-enzyme activities, protein expression and transcript abundance. We also monitored fitness-related traits which are often negatively correlated with increased immunocompetence. We found evidence for trans-generational priming on all these levels, with immune system parameters that are clearly not transmitted in a 1 : 1 ratio from parent to offspring, but rather in a complex manner with a strong but not exclusive maternal component. These findings indicate that trans-generational priming is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, potentially playing a role as a long-term but non-genetic mode of environmental adaptation.
跨代对免疫的影响在脊椎动物中是众所周知的，并且在许多物种相互作用的进化和生态理论中都有涉及。母体效应已被确定具有特殊重要性，现在被认为是对环境异质性的适应性表型反应的一种机制。我们之前已经表明，接触饮食中的非致病细菌可以诱导一种昆虫食草动物——甘蓝夜蛾（Trichoplusia ni）的免疫反应的几个方面。在这里，我们测试这种接触对下一代免疫状态的影响，在三个不同水平上测量免疫参数——酶活性、蛋白质表达和转录本丰度。我们还监测了通常与免疫能力增强呈负相关的与适应性相关的性状。我们在所有这些水平上都发现了跨代启动的证据，免疫系统参数并非以1:1的比例从亲代传递给后代，而是以一种复杂的方式传递，其中母体成分很强但并非唯一。这些发现表明，跨代启动是一种复杂且多方面的现象，可能作为一种长期但非遗传的环境适应模式发挥作用。
