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Sex‐specific heritability of cell‐mediated immune response in the blue tit nestlings ( Cyanistes caeruleus )
Author(s) -
DROBNIAK S. M.,
WIEJACZKA D.,
ARCT A.,
DUBIEC A.,
GUSTAFSSON L.,
CICHOŃ M.
Publication year - 2010
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.1420-9101.2010.01993.x
Subject(s) - cyanistes , biology , heritability , immune system , sexual dimorphism , phytohaemagglutinin , genetic variation , genotype , evolutionary biology , genetics , zoology , gene , parus
Here, we aimed at estimating sex‐specific heritabilities of cell‐mediated immune response (CMI) in the blue tit nestlings ( Cyanistes caeruleus ). To separate genetic and environmental components of the phenotypic variance in CMI (measured using phytohaemagglutinin assay), we performed a cross‐fostering experiment. Additionally, controlled environmental variation was introduced by enlarging some broods. Our analyses revealed a significant genetic component (as approximated by the nest‐of‐origin term) of the phenotypic variance in immune response. More importantly, these genetic effects differed between sexes and experimentally manipulated brood sizes, as indicated by significant genotype‐by‐sex and genotype‐by‐environment interactions. We discuss possible causes of such sexual dimorphism in gene expression and suggest that sex‐ and environment‐specific genetic interactions may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variability in traits related to immune functions.