1 Department of Biology, Duke University , Durham, NC 27708 , USA.
2 Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University , Durham, NC 27708 , USA.
Biol Lett. 2019 Jan 31;15(1):20180643. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0643.
In many social mammals, social adversity predicts compromised health and reduced fitness. These effects are thought to be driven in part by chronic social stress, but their molecular underpinnings are not well understood. Recent work suggests that chronic stress can affect mitochondrial copy number, heteroplasmy rates and function. Here, we tested the first two possibilities for the first time in non-human primates. We manipulated dominance rank in captive female rhesus macaques ( n = 45), where low rank induces chronic social stress, and measured mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and heteroplasmy in five peripheral blood mononuclear cell types from each study subject. We found no effect of dominance rank on either mtDNA copy number or heteroplasmy rates. However, grooming rate, a measure of affiliative social behaviour predicted by high social status, was positively associated with mtDNA copy number in B cells, cytotoxic T cells and monocytes. Our results suggest that social interactions can influence mtDNA regulation in immune cells. Further, they indicate the importance of considering both affiliative and competitive interactions in investigating this relationship.
在许多社会性哺乳动物中，社会逆境预示着健康受损和适应能力下降。这些影响部分归因于慢性社会压力，但它们的分子基础尚不清楚。最近的研究表明，慢性应激会影响线粒体拷贝数、异质性率和功能。在这里，我们首次在非人类灵长类动物中测试了前两种可能性。我们操纵了圈养雌性恒河猴（n=45）的统治地位，低地位导致慢性社会压力，并测量了来自每个研究对象的五种外周血单核细胞类型中的线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）拷贝数和异质性。我们没有发现统治地位对 mtDNA 拷贝数或异质性率有影响。然而，梳理率是高社会地位预测的亲和性社会行为的衡量标准，与 B 细胞、细胞毒性 T 细胞和单核细胞中的 mtDNA 拷贝数呈正相关。我们的结果表明，社会互动可以影响免疫细胞中的 mtDNA 调节。此外，它们表明在研究这种关系时，既要考虑亲和性又要考虑竞争性相互作用的重要性。
