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Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access published online on October 11, 2006
Integrative and Comparative Biology, doi:10.1093/icb/icl044
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Ecological Immunology: Recent Advances and Applications for Conservation and Public Health

Functional implications of Major Histocompatibility (MH) variation using estuarine fish populations

Sarah Cohen 1 *, Joëlle Tirindelli 1, Marta Gomez-Chiarri 2, and Diane Nacci 3
1 Romberg Tiburon Center, Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, 3152 Paradise Dr., Tiburon, CA 94920-1205, USA
2 Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
3 US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sarah Cohen, E-mail: sarahcoh{at}sfsu.edu


  Abstract

Synopsis Recently, there has been a dramatic expansion of studies of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) variation aimed at discovering functional differences in immunity across wild populations of diverse vertebrate species. Some species with relatively low genetic diversity or under strong directional selection by pathogens have revealed fascinating cases of MHC allelic disease linkage. More generally in genetically diverse species, however, these linkages may be hard to find. In this paper, we review approaches for assessing functional variation in MHC and discuss their potential use for discovering smaller-scale intraspecific spatial and temporal patterns of MHC variation. Then, we describe and illustrate an approach using the structural model to produce a population composite of variation in antigen-binding regions by mapping population-specific substitutions onto functional regions of the molecule. We are producing models of variation in major histocompatibility (MH) loci for populations of non-migratory fish (killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus) resident at sites that vary dramatically in environmental quality. We discuss the goal of relating MH population variation to functional differences in disease susceptibility such as those inferred by observations of parasitic infection and direct measurement of bacterial challenges in the laboratory. Our study has focused on relatively well-studied killifish populations, including those resident in a highly disturbed, chemically contaminated estuary and nearby less contaminated sites. Population-specific genetic changes at MHC antigen-binding loci are described, and evidence relevant to functional implications of these changes is reviewed. Population-specific patterns of variation in antigen-binding regions in combination with a range of assessments of immune function will provide a powerful new approach to reveal functional changes in MHC.

From the symposium "Ecological Immunology: Recent Advances and Applications for Conservation and Public Health" presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, January 4-8, 2006, at Orlando, Florida.
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