Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 23;15(7):e0236084. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236084. eCollection 2020.
The number of reproductive partners per individual varies markedly across animal mating systems. This variation may be an important determinant of patterns of immunogenetic diversity, particularly at Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Class I and II loci. To compare immunogenetic variation in taxa with markedly different mating systems, we used RNAseq-generated data to quantify genotypic diversity in three species of Peromyscine rodents: the monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) and the polygynandrous deer mouse (P. maniculatus) and brush mouse (P. boylii). By sampling populations of these species from multiple localities in California, we were able to conduct replicated analyses of the relationship between mating system and immunogenetic variation. Across the four localities sampled, diversity at MHC Class I and II genes was consistently higher in the two polygynandrous species. We found no evidence that sampling location (i.e., variation in habitat conditions) contributed to observed differences in MHC variation among populations or species. Collectively, our data indicate that immunogenetic variation in Peromyscine mice is associated with reproductive behavior, rather than geographic locality or habitat type. The consistently greater variability detected in the polygynandrous species examined suggests that balancing selection imposed by behaviorally-mediated pathogen exposure is important in maintaining variation at MHC genes in these animals.
个体的生殖伴侣数量在动物交配系统中差异显著。这种差异可能是免疫遗传多样性模式的一个重要决定因素，特别是在主要组织相容性复合体（MHC）I 类和 II 类基因座上。为了比较具有明显不同交配系统的类群中的免疫遗传变异，我们使用 RNAseq 生成的数据来量化三种 Peromyscine 啮齿动物的基因型多样性：单配制的加利福尼亚鼠（Peromyscus californicus）和多配制的鹿鼠（P. maniculatus）和刷鼠（P. boylii）。通过从加利福尼亚的多个地点采样这些物种的种群，我们能够对交配系统和免疫遗传变异之间的关系进行重复分析。在四个采样地点中，两种多配制物种的 MHC I 和 II 类基因的多样性始终较高。我们没有发现证据表明采样地点（即栖息地条件的变化）导致了种群或物种之间 MHC 变异的差异。总的来说，我们的数据表明，Peromyscine 小鼠的免疫遗传变异与生殖行为有关，而与地理位置或栖息地类型无关。在所检查的多配制物种中检测到的一致性更大的可变性表明，由行为介导的病原体暴露引起的平衡选择对于维持这些动物 MHC 基因的变异很重要。
