Immune Phenotype and Body Condition in Roe Deer: Individuals with High Body Condition Have Different, Not Stronger Immunity

Abstract

An efficient immunity is necessary for host survival, but entails energetic costs. When energy is limited, immunocompetence and body condition should co-vary positively among individuals and, depending on body condition, individuals should allocate more either in innate immunity or in adaptive response. We tested whether immune phenotype depends on body condition in large mammals, using data from two contrasted populations of roe deer Capreolus capreolus in France. Roe deer living at Chizé, a forest with poor habitat quality, were expected to show lower values for body condition and immune parameters than roe deer at Trois Fontaines, a forest with high habitat quality. From 285 blood samples collected between December 2009 and March 2011, we measured seven metabolic parameters and ten immunological parameters. A Principal Component Analysis showed that all indicators of body condition co-varied positively and were lowest at Chizé. Several immunological indicators correlated to body condition and differed between Trois Fontaines and Chizé. However, high body condition was not associated to a high average level of immunocompetence, but instead to high levels of indicators of acute inflammatory innate response, while low body condition was associated to high levels of monocytes and lymphocytes, possibly reflecting adaptive immunity. Limited data suggest that the difference between populations was not related to the presence of specific parasite species, however parasite exposure and stress have to be investigated to gain a more complete understanding of the determinants of immunity.

Variation in adult body mass of roe deer: early environmental conditions influence early and late body growth of females

“…Trois-Fontaines has been a consistently highly productive forest, whereas Chize´has been markedly food-limited in several years. Moreover, a recent immunological analysis supports the high energetic stress at Chize ( Gilot-Fromont et al 2012). at.…”

Cheetahs have a stronger constitutive innate immunity than leopards

“…Although the method was originally developed for avian species, it has recently been modified for mammals by using chicken erythrocytes as target cells62. After pipetting 25 μl of plasma in the wells of the first two columns of a U-shaped 96-well microtitre plate, 25 μl sterile PBS was added to the 2 nd –12 th columns.…”

“…Haemagglutination/haemolysis titers were given as the log 2 of the reciprocal of the highest dilution (i.e. lowest concentration) of plasma showing positive haemagglutination or haemolysis, respectively62104.…”

“…The haemagglutination/haemolysis assay is a method that quantifies two interrelated parts of the constitutive innate immune system, natural antibodies (haemagglutination titer) and the complement system (haemolysis titer). Natural antibodies recognize epitopes of various antigens and initiate the complement system, a group of proteins that trigger a signaling cascade which finally leads to pathogen lysis6162. We therefore chose the bacterial killing assay, the lysozyme assay and the haemagglutination/haemolysis assay to characterize constitutive innate immunity.…”

Haematological parameters do senesce in the wild: evidence from different populations of a long‐lived mammal

“…In addition, Gilot‐Fromont et al . () showed that body mass is associated with haematological parameters among roe deer. Therefore, haematological parameters should decrease with increasing age more strongly when analysed on an absolute scale than relative to body mass.…”