title: Nestling immune response to phytohaemagglutinin is not heritable in collared flycatchers.
abstract: The response to intradermally injected phytohaemagglutinin (PHA-response) is a commonly used quantification of avian immunocompetence (the ability to resist pathogens). Parasite-mediated sexual selection requires heritable immunocompetence, but evidence for heritability of PHA-response in birds largely stems from full-sib comparisons. Using an animal model approach, we quantified the narrow-sense heritability of PHA-response in 1626 collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) nestlings from 332 families, most of which were cross-fostered. Nestling PHA-response was not significantly heritable (h2=0.06+/-0.10), but was subject to non-heritable nest-of-origin effects (10% of variation). Our findings illustrate that full-sib comparisons of immunological measures may lead to an inflated estimate of heritability and also reveal a limited role of nestling PHA-response for sexual selection in this population.
authors.affiliation: Bird Ecology Unit, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 65, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland. natalia.pitala@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pitala
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sendecka
authors.forename: Jon E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Brommer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D004487:Edema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D023421:Models, Animal; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000276:immunology*; D020308:Songbirds / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D014921:Wings, Animal
chemical_list: D010835:Phytohemagglutinins