Departamento de Ecología y Biología Evolutiva, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Avenida Italia 3318, 11600, Montevideo, CP, Uruguay.
Sección Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Naturwissenschaften. 2020 Sep 29;107(5):44. doi: 10.1007/s00114-020-01700-2.
The immune response can be costly. Studies in several arthropod species have indicated a trade-off between immunity and other life-history traits, including reproduction. In sexually dimorphic species in which females and males largely differ in their life history strategies and related energetic demands, we can expect to find sex differences in immune functions. Sex differences in immunity are well documented in vertebrates; however, we largely lack data from invertebrate systems. Lytic activity, the immune system's ability to lysate bacteria and viruses, has been widely used as a proxy for the strength of the immune response in several invertebrates. With this in mind, we used the burrowing wolf spider Allocosa senex to test differences in lytic activity between females and males. We also studied whether digging behavior affects the immune responses in this species. While females of A. senex construct simple refuges where they stay during the day, males construct deep burrows, which they donate to females after copulation. In accordance with our hypothesis, females showed higher lytic activity compared with males, and those males who dug showed higher levels of lytic activity than those that did not dig. Furthermore, male body condition and lytic activity did not correlate with burrow length, a trait under female choice in this species. Our results show sexual dimorphism in lytic activity responses, which are likely related to differences in life-history strategies and energetic requirements of each sex in A. senex spiders.
免疫反应可能是有代价的。在几种节肢动物物种的研究表明，免疫与其他生活史特征之间存在权衡，包括繁殖。在性二态性物种中，雌性和雄性在其生活史策略和相关的能量需求上存在很大差异，我们可以预期在免疫功能上存在性别差异。脊椎动物的免疫性别差异已有充分记录；然而，我们在无脊椎动物系统中缺乏大量数据。溶菌活性，即免疫系统裂解细菌和病毒的能力，已被广泛用作几种无脊椎动物免疫反应强度的替代指标。考虑到这一点，我们使用穴居狼蛛Allocosa senex 来测试雌性和雄性之间的溶菌活性差异。我们还研究了挖掘行为是否会影响该物种的免疫反应。虽然 A. senex 的雌性会建造简单的避难所，白天待在那里，而雄性会建造深洞，在交配后将这些洞穴捐赠给雌性。与我们的假设一致，与雄性相比，雌性表现出更高的溶菌活性，并且那些挖掘的雄性比那些不挖掘的雄性表现出更高水平的溶菌活性。此外，雄性的身体状况和溶菌活性与洞穴长度无关，洞穴长度是该物种中雌性选择的特征。我们的研究结果表明，溶菌活性反应存在性别二态性，这可能与 A. senex 蜘蛛中每个性别的生活史策略和能量需求的差异有关。
