title: Immunity comes first: the effect of parasite genotypes on adaptive immunity and immunization in three-spined sticklebacks.
abstract: Adaptive immunity in vertebrates can confer increased resistance against invading pathogens upon re-infection. But how specific parasite genotypes affect the temporal transition from innate to adaptive immunity under continual exposure to parasites is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of homologous and heterologous exposures of genetically distinct parasite lineages of the eye fluke Diplostomum pseudospathaceum on gene expression patterns of adaptive immunity in sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Observable differences in gene expression were largely attributable to final exposures while there was no transcription pattern characteristic for a general response to repeated infections with D. pseudospathaceum. None of the final exposure treatments was able to erase the distinct expression patterns resulting from a heterologous pre-exposed fish. Interestingly, heterologous final exposures showed similarities between different treatment groups subjected to homologous pre-exposure. The observed pattern was supported by parasite infection rates and suggests that host immunization was optimized towards an adaptive immune response that favored effectiveness against parasite diversity over specificity.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, GEOMAR Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany. Electronic address: dhaase@geomar.de.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Haase
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, GEOMAR Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Jennifer K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Rieger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Anika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Witten
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Genetics, Genetic Epidemiology, University of Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stoll
authors.affiliation: Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, Huefferstr. 1, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bornberg-Bauer
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, August-Thienemann-Str. 2, 24306 Plön, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalbe
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, GEOMAR Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten B H
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Reusch
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity / Q000276:immunology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D005838:Genotype; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D059467:Transcriptome; D014200:Trematoda / Q000235:genetics; D014201:Trematode Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
keywords: Adaptive immunity; Diplostomum pseudospathaceum; Gasterosteus aculeatus; Parasite; RNA-seq; Transcriptomics