Parental investment matters for maternal and offspring immune defense in the mouthbrooding cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Parental care, while increasing parental fitness through offspring survival, also bears cost to the care-giving parent. Consequentially, trade offs between parental care and other vitally important traits, such as the immune system seem evident. In co-occurring phases of parental care and immunological challenges negative consequences through a resource allocation trade off on both the parental and the offspring conditions can be predicted. While the immune system reflects parental stress conditions, parental immunological investments also boost offspring survival via the transfer of immunological substances (trans-generational immune priming). We investigated this relationship in the mouthbrooding East African cichlid Astotatilapia burtoni. Prior to mating, females were exposed

SUBMITTER: Keller IS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5738712 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature