Ecophysiology

TLR Genes
T SCHIRREN ET AL . 2013
Toll like receptors are a class of proteins that play a key role in the innate
immune system. They recognise invading microbes. The paper looks at how the
variation in TLRs influences disease susceptibility in natural populations. They
assessed the extent of naturally occurring polymorphisms at TLR2 in wild bank
voles. They tested for the associations between the TLR2 variants and Borrelia
afxelii infection (tick-transmitted pathogen, causes human Lyme disease).
They found that voles carrying a certain cluster or TLR2 haplotypes were 3x more
likely to be infected by the pathogen. The first demonstration of an association
between TLR polymorphism and parasitism in wildlife. An example that genetic
variation at innate immune receptors can have a large impact on host resistance.

MHC associated mate choice in wild primates

SCHWENSOW ET AL. 2008
First study to provide support for the importance of MHC constitution in post-cop
mate choice in non-human primates.
Fitness is positively related to diversity in immune genes (MHC). Higher MHC
diversity allows immune systems to recognise more diverse pathogens. They
investigated the impact of MHC variability for mate choice in grey mouse lemurs.
The study shows that females preferentially reproduce with males that have a
higher MHC diversity and that have MHC alleles more dissimilar to their own.
Reproducing with this individual increases the diversity of MHC molecules in the
offspring and therefore increases its chance of survival. This shows that female
cryptic choice may be the underlying mechanism that optimizes the genetic
constitution of an offspring.