Female partner preferences enhance offspring ability to survive an infection.
BACKGROUND
It is often suggested that mate choice enhances offspring immune resistance to infectious diseases. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study with wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus musculus) in which females were experimentally mated either with their preferred or non-preferred male, and their offspring were infected with a mouse pathogen, Salmonella enterica (serovar Typhimurium).


RESULTS
We found that offspring sired by preferred males were significantly more likely to survive the experimental infection compared to those sired by non-preferred males. We found no significant differences in the pathogen clearance or infection dynamics between the infected mice, suggesting that offspring from preferred males were better able to cope with infection and had improved tolerance rather than immune resistance.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results provide the first direct experimental evidence within a single study that partner preferences enhance offspring resistance to infectious diseases.
Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstr, 1a, 1160 Vienna, Austria. shirley.raveh@unibas.ch.
Shirley
S
Raveh
Sanja
S
Sutalo
Kerstin E
KE
Thonhauser
Michaela
M
Thoß
Attila
A
Hettyey
Friederike
F
Winkelser
Dustin J
DJ
Penn
D000818:Animals; D060467:Disease Resistance; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D051379:Mice; D010375:Pedigree; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000502:physiology*; D016019:Survival Analysis