Merrill Loren, Naylor Madeleine F, Dalimonte Merria, McLaughlin Sean, Stewart Tara E, Grindstaff Jennifer L
Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA.
Funct Ecol. 2017 Dec;31(12):2263-2273. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12916. Epub 2017 Jun 29.
Early-life adversity can have long-lasting effects on physiological, behavioural, cognitive, and somatic processes. Consequently, these effects may alter an organism's life-history strategy and reproductive tactics.In response to early-life immune activation, we quantified levels of the acute phase protein haptoglobin (Hp) during development in male zebra finches (). Then, we examined the long-term impacts of early-life immune activation on an important static sexual signal, song complexity, as well as effects of early-life immune activation on the relationship between song complexity and a dynamic sexual signal, beak colouration. Finally, we performed mate-choice trials to determine if male early-life experience impacted female preference.Challenge with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) resulted in increased song complexity compared to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment or the control. Hp levels were inversely correlated with song complexity. Moreover, KLH-treatment resulted in negative associations between the two sexual signals (beak colouration and song complexity). Females demonstrated some preference for KLH-treated males over controls and for control males over LPS-treated males in mate choice trials.Developmental immune activation has variable effects on the expression of secondary sexual traits in adulthood, including enhancing the expression of some traits. Because developmental levels of Hp and adult song complexity were correlated, future studies should explore a potential role for exposure to inflammation during development on song learning.Early-life adversity may differentially impact static versus dynamic signals. The use of phenotypic correlations can be a powerful tool for examining the impact of early-life experience on the associations among different traits, including sexual signals.
生命早期的逆境会对生理、行为、认知和躯体过程产生长期影响。因此，这些影响可能会改变生物体的生活史策略和繁殖策略。为了应对生命早期的免疫激活，我们量化了雄性斑胸草雀发育过程中急性期蛋白触珠蛋白（Hp）的水平。然后，我们研究了生命早期免疫激活对一个重要的静态性信号——歌声复杂性的长期影响，以及生命早期免疫激活对歌声复杂性和一个动态性信号——喙颜色之间关系的影响。最后，我们进行了配偶选择试验，以确定雄性生命早期经历是否会影响雌性的偏好。与脂多糖（LPS）处理或对照组相比，用钥孔戚血蓝蛋白（KLH）进行刺激导致歌声复杂性增加。Hp水平与歌声复杂性呈负相关。此外，KLH处理导致两个性信号（喙颜色和歌声复杂性）之间呈负相关。在配偶选择试验中，雌性在一定程度上更偏好经KLH处理的雄性而非对照组雄性，且更偏好对照组雄性而非经LPS处理的雄性。发育过程中的免疫激活对成年期第二性征的表达有不同影响，包括增强某些特征的表达。由于Hp的发育水平与成年期歌声复杂性相关，未来的研究应探讨发育过程中接触炎症对歌声学习的潜在作用。生命早期的逆境可能对静态信号和动态信号产生不同影响。利用表型相关性可以成为一种强大的工具，用于研究生命早期经历对不同性状（包括性信号）之间关联的影响。
