Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats
Genetic diversity at immune genes and levels of parasitism are known to affect patterns of (dis)assortative mating in several species. Heterozygote advantage and/or good genes should shape mate choice originating from pathogen/parasite-driven selection at immune genes. However, the stability of thes...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2018-11-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/6004.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797419492918165504 |
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| author | Dany Garant Audrey Bourret Clarence Schmitt Audrey Turcotte Fanie Pelletier Marc Bélisle |
| author_facet | Dany Garant Audrey Bourret Clarence Schmitt Audrey Turcotte Fanie Pelletier Marc Bélisle |
| author_sort | Dany Garant |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Genetic diversity at immune genes and levels of parasitism are known to affect patterns of (dis)assortative mating in several species. Heterozygote advantage and/or good genes should shape mate choice originating from pathogen/parasite-driven selection at immune genes. However, the stability of these associations, and whether they vary with environmental conditions, are still rarely documented. In this study, we describe mating patterns in a wild population of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) over 4 years and assess the effects of haemosporidian parasite infection and immune genetic diversity at β-defensin genes on those patterns within two habitats of contrasting environmental quality, in southern Québec, Canada. We first show that mating patterns were only very weakly related to individual status of infection by haemosporidian parasites. However, we found a difference between habitats in mating patterns related to infection status, which was likely due to a non-random distribution of individuals, as non-infected mating pairs were more frequent in lower quality habitats. Mating patterns also differed depending on β-defensin heterozygosity at AvBD2, but only for genetic partners outside of the social couple, with heterozygous individuals pairing together. Our study underlines the importance of considering habitat heterogeneity in studies of sexual selection. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:49:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-424bcbb1a0d44fe7b645787b04f6392e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:49:07Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-424bcbb1a0d44fe7b645787b04f6392e2023-12-03T10:31:33ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592018-11-016e600410.7717/peerj.6004Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitatsDany Garant0Audrey Bourret1Clarence Schmitt2Audrey Turcotte3Fanie Pelletier4Marc Bélisle5Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaDépartement de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaInstitut d’Ecologie et des Sciences de l’Environnement de Paris, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UPEC, Paris 7, CNRS, INRA, IRD, Paris, FranceDépartement de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaDépartement de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaDépartement de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, CanadaGenetic diversity at immune genes and levels of parasitism are known to affect patterns of (dis)assortative mating in several species. Heterozygote advantage and/or good genes should shape mate choice originating from pathogen/parasite-driven selection at immune genes. However, the stability of these associations, and whether they vary with environmental conditions, are still rarely documented. In this study, we describe mating patterns in a wild population of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) over 4 years and assess the effects of haemosporidian parasite infection and immune genetic diversity at β-defensin genes on those patterns within two habitats of contrasting environmental quality, in southern Québec, Canada. We first show that mating patterns were only very weakly related to individual status of infection by haemosporidian parasites. However, we found a difference between habitats in mating patterns related to infection status, which was likely due to a non-random distribution of individuals, as non-infected mating pairs were more frequent in lower quality habitats. Mating patterns also differed depending on β-defensin heterozygosity at AvBD2, but only for genetic partners outside of the social couple, with heterozygous individuals pairing together. Our study underlines the importance of considering habitat heterogeneity in studies of sexual selection.https://peerj.com/articles/6004.pdfMating patternsImmune genesHuman-driven changesTree swallowHaemosporidian parasites |
| spellingShingle | Dany Garant Audrey Bourret Clarence Schmitt Audrey Turcotte Fanie Pelletier Marc Bélisle Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats PeerJ Mating patterns Immune genes Human-driven changes Tree swallow Haemosporidian parasites |
| title | Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| title_full | Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| title_fullStr | Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| title_short | Effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| title_sort | effects of blood parasite infection and innate immune genetic diversity on mating patterns in a passerine bird breeding in contrasted habitats |
| topic | Mating patterns Immune genes Human-driven changes Tree swallow Haemosporidian parasites |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/6004.pdf |
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