Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna; Savoyenstraße 1a, A-1160, Vienna, Austria.
Molecular Ecology & Evolution Lab, Department of Biology, Lund University, Ecology Building, Sölvegatan 37, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 26;7(1):6571. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06631-z.
Environmental factors and genetic incompatibilities between parents have been suggested as important determinants for embryonic mortality and survival. The genetic set-up of the immune system, specifically the highly polymorphic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) may also influence individual resistance to infections. MHC proteins are important for an appropriate adaptive immune response and enable T-cells to separate 'self' from 'non-self'. Here we investigate the importance of MHC functional diversity for early development in birds, more specifically, if offspring survival and body mass or size depends on number of different functional MHC alleles, specific functional MHC alleles or similarity of MHC alleles in the parents. Unhatched eggs are common in clutches of many bird species. In house sparrows (Passer domesticus), embryo and nestling mortality can exceed 50%. To control for environmental factors, our study was carried out on an aviary population. We found that one specific functional MHC allele was associated with reduced nestling survival, which was additionally supported by lower body mass and a smaller tarsus when nestlings have been 6 days old. Another allele was positively associated with tarsus length at a later nestling stage (nestlings 12 days old). These results indicate that MHC alleles might influence pathogen resistance or susceptibility.
环境因素和父母之间的遗传不相容性被认为是胚胎死亡率和存活率的重要决定因素。免疫系统的遗传结构，特别是高度多态的主要组织相容性复合体（MHC），也可能影响个体对感染的抵抗力。MHC 蛋白对于适当的适应性免疫反应很重要，使 T 细胞能够将“自我”与“非自我”区分开来。在这里，我们研究了 MHC 功能多样性对鸟类早期发育的重要性，更具体地说，后代的存活率和体重或大小是否取决于父母中不同功能 MHC 等位基因的数量、特定功能 MHC 等位基因或 MHC 等位基因的相似性。许多鸟类物种的巢中都有未孵化的蛋。在麻雀（Passer domesticus）中，胚胎和雏鸟的死亡率可超过 50%。为了控制环境因素，我们的研究在一个鸟舍种群中进行。我们发现一个特定的功能 MHC 等位基因与降低的雏鸟存活率相关，这一结果还得到了较低的体重和较小的跗跖骨的支持，当雏鸟 6 天大时。另一个等位基因与稍后的雏鸟阶段（12 天大的雏鸟）的跗跖骨长度呈正相关。这些结果表明，MHC 等位基因可能影响病原体的抗性或易感性。
