Immunological rearrangement -an opportunity for unique male pregnancy evolution?

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Pregnancy has evolved in more than 150 vertebrate lineages and represents a fascinating example of convergent evolution. Evolutionary adaptations in the immune system were required to tolerate the development of intimate feto-parental connections in the womb. In pipefishes and seahorses, we thus suggest their immunological rearrangement to be evolutionary adaptive and to be directly linked to their unique evolution of male pregnancy. To examine the evolutionary consequences of these modifications of immune system functioning, we will generate knock-out lines of the key immune genes/ exons that have been lost along the gradient of male pregnancy evolution (complement component C4, T-cell surface glycoprotein CD5 and the MHC II invariant chain CD74) in teleosts with fully functional immune systems. Subsequent infection experiments and analysis of immune cell populations will shed light on life with an immunological rearrangement and provide insights into its compensation over alternative immunological pathways. The assessment of physiological remodelling of cells and tissues in the brood pouch of pipefishes and seahorses, will pave the way to understand the coevolution of immune system modification with male pregnancy. This project will investigate how immunological rearrangement can be evolutionary adaptive, and illuminate why immunological rearrangement may even provide an opportunity for evolutionary novelties, such as the unique male pregnancy.