Maternal effects and early-life performance are associated with parasite resistance across life in free-living Soay sheep
Maternal effects and early-life performance are associated with parasite resistance across life in free-living Soay sheep
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DOI：
10.1017/s0031182010000193
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发表时间：
2010-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Kruuk, L. E. B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hayward, A. D.;Pilkington, J. G.;Kruuk, L. E. B.
除了母体基因的影响外，当母体表型影响后代的表型时，母体效应就会发生，并且可能对后代的寄生虫抗性产生相当大的影响。这些影响，以及早期繁殖水平和对寄生虫的抵抗力的影响，可能会持续到晚年，甚至影响衰老速度。在这里，我们分析了20年的纵向数据集，收集了一个自由生活的Soay羊群体，以调查一系列母体表型性状和早期生活性能之间的关系，以及一生中对寄生虫的抵抗力。我们的研究结果表明，母亲的影响在决定后代对寄生虫的抵抗力方面很重要，因为双胞胎出生的羔羊以及最年轻和最年长的母亲所生的羔羊表现出更高的寄生虫负担。我们表明，寄生虫抗性和出生产仔数之间的联系持续到成年。我们还表明，雄性寄生虫抗性的年龄特异性变化与出生产仔数有关，而雌性的年龄特异性变化受早期繁殖水平和寄生虫感染的影响。越来越多的证据表明，个体在发育过程中所经历的条件可能对直接和晚年的表现产生深远影响，甚至可能影响衰老。这些结果进一步证明了这一点。
Maternal effects occur when the maternal phenotype influences that of the offspring in addition to the effects of maternal genes, and may have a considerable influence on offspring parasite resistance. These effects, and the effects of early levels of reproduction and parasite resistance, may persist into later life and even influence ageing rates. Here we analyse a 20-year longitudinal data set collected on a free-living population of Soay sheep, to investigate the associations between a suite of maternal phenotypic traits and early-life performance on measures of parasite resistance across life. Our results show that maternal effects are important in determining offspring parasite resistance, since lambs born as twins and those born to the youngest and oldest mothers show higher parasite burdens. We show that the association between parasite resistance and natal litter size persists into adulthood. We also show that age-specific changes in parasite resistance in males arc associated with natal litter size, and that age-specific changes in females are influenced by early-life levels of reproduction and parasite infection. These results add to the growing evidence that conditions experienced by individuals during development can have a profound influence on immediate and late-life performance and may even influence ageing.