A newly evolved Drosophila Cytorace-9 shows trade-off between longevity and immune response.
Species with an efficient immune system would be at an advantage to evade pathogenic challenges and adapt to an ever changing ecological niche. The upkeep of immunity is a costly affair, thus trade-offs between immunity and other life history traits are expected. However, studies on the relation between immunity and life span have yielded paradoxical results. Drosophila Cytoraces, being at different stages of evolutionary divergence, provide an excellent experimental model system to study how evolving populations gain novel traits in the absence of selection. We found that in the absence of pathogenic infections, the Cytorace-9 flies lived longer than those of Cytorace-3. However, when these Cytoraces were challenged with different pathogenic microbes, the trend was opposite. After infection with pathogens, the long-lived Cytorace-9 survived worse than the short lived Cytorace-3, which can be attributed to a reduction in its immune response. This study provides evidence to support the existence of a trade-off between life span and immunity.
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India.
Yoirentomba Meetei
YM
Sinam
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India.
Arunita
A
Chatterjee
Unit on Evolution and Genetics Laboratory, Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru 570 006, India.
Mysore S
MS
Ranjini
Unit on Evolution and Genetics Laboratory, Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru 570 006, India.
Adarsh
A
Poojari
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India.
Aarthi
A
Nagarajan
Unit on Evolution and Genetics Laboratory, Department of Studies in Genetics and Genomics, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysuru 570 006, India.
Nallur B
NB
Ramachandra
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, India. Electronic address: upendra@mrdg.iisc.ernet.in.
Upendra
U
Nongthomba
D000818:Animals; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000472:pathogenicity; D052982:Beauveria / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004330:Drosophila / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000382:microbiology; D056724:Immunity, Humoral; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D012706:Serratia marcescens / Q000472:pathogenicity
Drosophila; Evolution; Immunity; Life history traits; Longevity; Trade-off