Cargando…

Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake

Like most ectothermic vertebrates, keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii) do not exhibit parental care. Thus, offspring must possess an immune system capable of dealing with challenges such as pathogens, without assistance from an attendant parent. We know very little about immune system characteris...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Brown, Gregory P., Shine, Richard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4821281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27069670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160041
_version_ 1782425558972366848
author Brown, Gregory P.
Shine, Richard
author_facet Brown, Gregory P.
Shine, Richard
author_sort Brown, Gregory P.
collection PubMed
description Like most ectothermic vertebrates, keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii) do not exhibit parental care. Thus, offspring must possess an immune system capable of dealing with challenges such as pathogens, without assistance from an attendant parent. We know very little about immune system characteristics of neonatal reptiles, including the magnitude of heritability and other maternal influences. To identify sources of variation in circulating white blood cell (WBC) concentrations and differentials, we examined blood smears from 246 hatchling snakes and their field-caught mothers. WBC concentrations were lower in hatchlings than in adults, and hatchlings had more basophils and fewer azurophils than adults. A hatchling keelback's WBC differential was also influenced by its sex and body size. Although hatchling WBC measures exhibited negligible heritability, they were strongly influenced by maternal body size and parasite infection (but not by maternal body condition, relative clutch mass or time in captivity). Larger mothers produced offspring with more azurophils and fewer lymphocytes. The mechanisms and consequences of WBC variation are currently unknown, but if these maternal effects enhance offspring fitness, the impact of maternal body size on reproductive success may be greater than expected simply from allometric increases in the numbers and sizes of progeny.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4821281
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher The Royal Society Publishing
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-48212812016-04-11 Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake Brown, Gregory P. Shine, Richard R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Like most ectothermic vertebrates, keelback snakes (Tropidonophis mairii) do not exhibit parental care. Thus, offspring must possess an immune system capable of dealing with challenges such as pathogens, without assistance from an attendant parent. We know very little about immune system characteristics of neonatal reptiles, including the magnitude of heritability and other maternal influences. To identify sources of variation in circulating white blood cell (WBC) concentrations and differentials, we examined blood smears from 246 hatchling snakes and their field-caught mothers. WBC concentrations were lower in hatchlings than in adults, and hatchlings had more basophils and fewer azurophils than adults. A hatchling keelback's WBC differential was also influenced by its sex and body size. Although hatchling WBC measures exhibited negligible heritability, they were strongly influenced by maternal body size and parasite infection (but not by maternal body condition, relative clutch mass or time in captivity). Larger mothers produced offspring with more azurophils and fewer lymphocytes. The mechanisms and consequences of WBC variation are currently unknown, but if these maternal effects enhance offspring fitness, the impact of maternal body size on reproductive success may be greater than expected simply from allometric increases in the numbers and sizes of progeny. The Royal Society Publishing 2016-03-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4821281/ /pubmed/27069670 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160041 Text en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © 2016 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biology (Whole Organism)
Brown, Gregory P.
Shine, Richard
Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title_full Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title_fullStr Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title_full_unstemmed Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title_short Maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
title_sort maternal body size influences offspring immune configuration in an oviparous snake
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4821281/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27069670
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160041
work_keys_str_mv AT browngregoryp maternalbodysizeinfluencesoffspringimmuneconfigurationinanoviparoussnake
AT shinerichard maternalbodysizeinfluencesoffspringimmuneconfigurationinanoviparoussnake