Evidence of Pathogen-Induced Immunogenetic Selection across the Large Geographic Range of a Wild Seabird.

ABSTRACT: Over evolutionary time, pathogen challenge shapes the immune phenotype of the host to better respond to an incipient threat. The extent and direction of this selection pressure depend on the local pathogen composition, which is in turn determined by biotic and abiotic features of the environment. However, little is known about adaptation to local pathogen threats in wild animals. The Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) is a species complex that lends itself to the study of immune adaptation because of its circumpolar distribution over a large latitudinal range, with little or no admixture between different clades. In this study, we examine the diversity in a key family of innate immune genes-the Toll-like receptors (TLRs)-across the range of the Gentoo penguin. The three TLRs that we investi

SUBMITTER: Levy H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7253215 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature