Jackson J A
IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, UK.
Parasite Immunol. 2015 May;37(5):220-32. doi: 10.1111/pim.12180.
Transcriptomic methods are set to revolutionize the study of the immune system in naturally occurring nonmodel organisms. With this in mind, the present article focuses on ways in which the use of 'nonmodel' rodents (not the familiar laboratory species) can advance studies into the classical, but ever relevant, epidemiologic triad of immune defence, infectious disease and environment. For example, naturally occurring rodents are an interesting system in which to study the environmental stimuli that drive the development and homeostasis of the immune system and, by extension, to identify where these stimuli are altered in anthropogenic environments leading to the formation of immunopathological phenotypes. Measurement of immune expression may help define individual heterogeneity in infectious disease susceptibility and transmission and facilitate our understanding of infection dynamics and risk in the natural environment; furthermore, it may provide a means of surveillance that can filter individuals carrying previously unknown acute infections of potential ecological or zoonotic importance. Finally, the study of immunology in wild animals may reveal interactions within the immune system and between immunity and other organismal traits that are not observable under restricted laboratory conditions. Potentiating much of this is the possibility of combining gene expression profiles with analytical tools derived from ecology and systems biology to reverse engineer interaction networks between immune responses, other organismal traits and the environment (including symbiont exposures), revealing regulatory architecture. Such holistic studies promise to link ecology, epidemiology and immunology in natural systems in a unified approach that can illuminate important problems relevant to human health and animal welfare and production.
转录组学方法必将彻底改变对自然存在的非模式生物免疫系统的研究。考虑到这一点，本文重点关注使用“非模式”啮齿动物（而非常见的实验室物种）推进对经典但始终相关的免疫防御、传染病和环境流行病学三角关系研究的方式。例如，自然存在的啮齿动物是一个有趣的系统，可用于研究驱动免疫系统发育和稳态的环境刺激，并进而确定在人为环境中这些刺激发生改变导致免疫病理表型形成的位置。免疫表达的测量可能有助于定义个体在传染病易感性和传播方面的异质性，并促进我们对自然环境中感染动态和风险的理解；此外，它可能提供一种监测手段，能够筛选出携带具有潜在生态或人畜共患病重要性的先前未知急性感染的个体。最后，对野生动物免疫学的研究可能揭示免疫系统内部以及免疫与其他机体特征之间在受限实验室条件下无法观察到的相互作用。实现这一切的很大可能性在于将基因表达谱与源自生态学和系统生物学的分析工具相结合，对免疫反应、其他机体特征与环境（包括共生体暴露）之间的相互作用网络进行逆向工程，揭示调控架构。此类整体研究有望以一种统一的方法将自然系统中的生态学、流行病学和免疫学联系起来，阐明与人类健康、动物福利和生产相关的重要问题。
