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Innate humoural immunity is related to eggshell bacterial load of European birds: a comparative analysis

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Abstract

Fitness benefits associated with the development of a costly immune system would include not only self-protection against pathogenic microorganisms but also protection of host offspring if it reduces the probability and the rate of vertical transmission of microorganisms. This possibility predicts a negative relationship between probabilities of vertical transmission of symbionts and level of immune response that we here explore inter-specifically. We estimated eggshell bacterial loads by culturing heterotrophic bacteria, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae on the eggshells of 29 species of birds as a proxy of vertical transmission of bacteria from mother to offspring. For this pool of species, we also estimated innate immune response (natural antibody and complement (lysis)) of adults, which constitute the main defence against bacterial infection. Multivariate general linear models revealed the predicted negative association between natural antibodies and density of bacteria on the eggshell of 19 species of birds for which we sampled the eggs in more than one nest. Univariate analyses revealed significant associations for heterotrophic bacteria and for Enterobacteriaceae, a group of bacteria that includes important pathogens of avian embryos. Therefore, these results suggest a possible trans-generational benefit of developing a strong immune system by reducing vertical transmission of pathogens.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Lopez-Hernández for technical assistance in the lab. This study was funded by a graduate research grant from Junta de Andalucia to JMP and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación/FEDER (project CGL2010-19233-C03-01) and the Junta de Andalucía (P09-RNM-4557).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC), Almería, Spain

    Juan José Soler & Juan Manuel Peralta-Sánchez

  2. Grupo Coevolución, Unidad asociada al CSIC, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Juan José Soler, Juan Manuel Peralta-Sánchez & Antonio Manuel Martín-Platero

  3. Cypresvej 1, 9700, Brønderslev, Denmark

    Einar Flensted-Jensen

  4. Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    Antonio Manuel Martín-Platero

  5. Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Anders Pape Møller

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  1. Juan José Soler
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  2. Juan Manuel Peralta-Sánchez
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  3. Einar Flensted-Jensen
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  4. Antonio Manuel Martín-Platero
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  5. Anders Pape Møller
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Correspondence to Juan José Soler.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Soler, J.J., Peralta-Sánchez, J.M., Flensted-Jensen, E. et al. Innate humoural immunity is related to eggshell bacterial load of European birds: a comparative analysis. Naturwissenschaften 98, 807 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0830-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-011-0830-z

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