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CORRELATIONAL SELECTION ON PRO‐ AND ANTI‐INFLAMMATORY EFFECTORS
Author(s) -
Guerreiro Romain,
Besson Anne A.,
Bellenger Jérôme,
Ragot Kévin,
Lizard Gérard,
Faivre Bruno,
Sorci Gabriele
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01708.x
Subject(s) - biology , effector , selection (genetic algorithm) , immune system , negative selection , immunity , host (biology) , positive selection , immunology , genetics , gene , computer science , artificial intelligence , genome
Parasites impose a permanent threat for hosts. As a consequence, immune defenses are important for host fitness. However, the immune response can also produce self‐damage and impair host fitness if not properly regulated. Effectors that up‐ and downregulate the immune response should, therefore, evolve in concert, and be under the action of correlational selection. To address this issue, we assessed the shape of the selection operating on pro‐ and anti‐inflammatory effectors following an inflammatory challenge in laboratory mice. We found that selection acts on the combination of these two traits as individuals that produced large amount of pro‐inflammatory cytokines could achieve relatively high fitness (survival) only if also producing a large amount of anti‐inflammatory effectors. To our knowledge, this is the first study providing evidence for correlational selection on immunity.