title: No more non-model species: the promise of next generation sequencing for comparative immunology.
abstract: Next generation sequencing (NGS) allows for the rapid, comprehensive and cost effective analysis of entire genomes and transcriptomes. NGS provides approaches for immune response gene discovery, profiling gene expression over the course of parasitosis, studying mechanisms of diversification of immune receptors and investigating the role of epigenetic mechanisms in regulating immune gene expression and/or diversification. NGS will allow meaningful comparisons to be made between organisms from different taxa in an effort to understand the selection of diverse strategies for host defence under different environmental pathogen pressures. At the same time, it will reveal the shared and unique components of the immunological toolkit and basic functional aspects that are essential for immune defence throughout the living world. In this review, we argue that NGS will revolutionize our understanding of immune responses throughout the animal kingdom because the depth of information it provides will circumvent the need to concentrate on a few "model" species.
authors: CNRS, UMR 5244, Ecologie et Evolution des Interactions (2EI), Perpignan F-66860, France; Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Perpignan F-66860, France. Electronic address: ndheilly@hotmail.fr.
authors: Nolwenn M
authors: NM
authors: Dheilly
authors: Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology, Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors: Coen
authors: C
authors: Adema
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia.
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Raftos
authors: CNRS, UMR 5244, Ecologie et Evolution des Interactions (2EI), Perpignan F-66860, France; Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Perpignan F-66860, France.
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Gourbal
authors: CNRS, UMR 5244, Ecologie et Evolution des Interactions (2EI), Perpignan F-66860, France; Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Perpignan F-66860, France.
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Grunau
authors: University of Basel, Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, Basel, Switzerland.
authors: Louis
authors: L
authors: Du Pasquier
mesh_terms: D000486:Allergy and Immunology; D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000276:immunology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D023421:Models, Animal; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000276:immunology
keywords: Association studies; Diversification; Epigenetic; Gene expression; Immune system; Transcriptome sequencing