Premium
Experimental infection magnifies inbreeding depression in house mice
Author(s) -
ILMONEN P.,
PENN D. J.,
DAMJANOVICH K.,
CLARKE J.,
LAMBORN D.,
MORRISON L.,
GHOTBI L.,
POTTS W. K.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01510.x
Subject(s) - inbreeding , inbreeding depression , biology , inbreeding avoidance , offspring , population , cousin , genetics , zoology , resistance (ecology) , host resistance , inclusive fitness , ecology , demography , immunology , pregnancy , history , archaeology , sociology
It is often assumed that inbreeding reduces resistance to pathogens, yet there are few experimental tests of this idea in vertebrates, and no tests for the effects of moderate levels of inbreeding more commonly found in nature. We mated wild‐derived mice with siblings or first cousins and compared the resistance of their offspring to Salmonella infection with outbred controls under laboratory and seminatural conditions. In the laboratory, full‐sib inbreeding reduced resistance to Salmonella and survivorship, whereas first‐cousin inbreeding had no detectable effects. In competitive population enclosures, we found that first‐cousin inbreeding reduced male fitness by 57% in infected vs. only 34% in noninfected control populations. Our study provides experimental evidence that inbreeding reduces resistance and ability to survive pathogenic infection, and moreover, it shows that even moderate inbreeding can cause significant fitness declines under naturalistic conditions of social stress, and especially with exposure to infectious agents.