Dataset Information

Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.

ABSTRACT: Social status can mediate effects on the immune system, with profound consequences for individual health; nevertheless, most investigators of status-related disparities in free-ranging animals have used faecal parasite burdens to proxy immune function in the males of male-dominant species. We instead use direct measures of innate immune function (complement and natural antibodies) to examine status-related immunocompetence in both sexes of a female-dominant species. The meerkat is a unique model for such a study because it is a cooperatively breeding species in which status-related differences are extreme, evident in reproductive skew, morphology, behaviour, communication and physiology, including that dominant females naturally express the greatest total androgen (androstenedione plus testosterone) concentrations. We found that, relative to subordinates, dominant animals had reduced serum bacteria-killing abilities; also, relative to subordinate females, dominant females had reduced haemolytic complement activities. Irrespective of an individual's sex or social status, androstenedione concentrations (but not body condition, age or reproductive activity) negatively predicted concurrent immunocompetence. Thus, dominant meerkats of both sexes are immunocompromised. Moreover, in female meerkats, androstenedione perhaps acting directly or via local conversion, may exert a double-edged effect of promoting dominance and reproductive success at the cost of increased parasitism and reduced immune function. Given the prominent signalling of dominance in female meerkats, these findings may relate to the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH); however, our data would suggest that the endocrine mechanism underlying the ICHH need not be mediated solely by testosterone and might explain trade-offs in females, as well as in males.

SUBMITTER: Smyth KN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6124081 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.

Smyth Kendra N KN Caruso Nicholas M NM Davies Charli S CS Clutton-Brock Tim H TH Drea Christine M CM

Royal Society open science 20180801 8

Social status can mediate effects on the immune system, with profound consequences for individual health; nevertheless, most investigators of status-related disparities in free-ranging animals have used faecal parasite burdens to proxy immune function in the males of male-dominant species. We instead use direct measures of innate immune function (complement and natural antibodies) to examine status-related immunocompetence in both sexes of a female-dominant species. The meerkat is a unique model ...[more]

PMID: 30225031

Similar Datasets

Project description:Tuberculosis (TB) is an important and widespread disease of wildlife, livestock and humans world-wide, but long-term empirical datasets describing this condition are rare. A population of meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in South Africa's Kalahari Desert have been diagnosed with Mycobacterium suricattae, a novel strain of TB, causing fatal disease in this group-living species. This study aimed to find characteristics associated with clinical TB in meerkats. These characteristics could subsequently be used to identify 'at-risk' animals within a population, and target these individuals for control measures. We conducted a retrospective study based on a unique, long-term life-history dataset of over 2000 individually identified animals covering a 14-year period after the first confirmatory diagnosis of TB in this population in 2001. Individual- and group-level risk factors were analysed using time-dependent Cox regression to examine their potential influence on the time to development of end-stage TB. Cases of disease involved 144 individuals in 27 of 73 social groups, across 12 of 14 years (an incidence rate of 3·78 cases/100 study years). At the individual level, increasing age had the greatest effect on risk of disease with a hazard ratio of 4·70 (95% CI: 1·92-11·53, P < 0·01) for meerkats aged 24-48 months, and a hazard ratio of 9·36 (3·34-26·25, P < 0·001) for animals aged over 48 months (both age categories compared with animals aged below 24 months). Previous group history of TB increased the hazard by a factor of 4·29 (2·00-9·17, P < 0·01), and an interaction was found between this variable and age. At a group level, immigrations of new group members in the previous year increased hazard by a factor of 3·00 (1·23-7·34, P = 0·016). There was weaker evidence of an environmental effect with a hazard ratio for a low rainfall (<200 mm) year of 2·28 (0·91-5·72, P = 0·079). Our findings identify potential individual characteristics on which to base targeted control measures such as vaccination. Additional data on the dynamics of the infection status of individuals and how this changes over time would complement these findings by enhancing understanding of disease progression and transmission, and thus the implications of potential management measures.

Dataset Information

Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.

Publications

Social and endocrine correlates of immune function in meerkats: implications for the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets