Evolution of Innate Immunity in African Catarrhines
Item
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Title
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Evolution of Innate Immunity in African Catarrhines
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:42cce163d443:11252
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identifier
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11638
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Creator
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Brinkworth, Jessica F.,
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Contributor
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Ekaterina Pechenkina
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Evolution & development | Genetics | Immunology | Bacteria | comparative immunology | Cytokines | Gene Expression | Primate Evolution | Toll-like receptors
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Abstract
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Innate immunity is the first line of host defense against invading pathogens, involves activation of innate immune cells via Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and is a major factor affecting host susceptibility to infectious disease. African catarrhine primates share high genomic identity, yet appear to differ in their susceptibility to bacterial infections (i.e. Gram-negative bacterial sepsis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycobacterium). These species are hypothesized to have divergent evolutionary histories of pathogen exposure due to differences in geographic distribution and behaviour. The goals of this research were to (1) clarify if the early innate immune responses of African catarrhine species have functionally diverged, and (2) examine possible associations between these responses and pathogen type, primate evolutionary landscape and disease susceptibility. To examine if African catarrhines have evolved different early innate immune responses to environment-specific pathogens, fresh whole blood from Homo, Pan and Papio was stimulated with TLR2 and TLR4-detected molecular components from pathogens unevenly distributed across primate evolutionary habitats (i.e. Mycobacterium, Yersinia pestis) for 90 minutes. Immune activation was assessed by quantifying expression of genes associated with the early innate immune response by real-time PCR. This study shows that Homo and Pan blood leukocytes typically mount similar early cytokine and chemokine responses to stimuli, while the more distantly related Papio mounts opposing responses. The divergence of Homo/Pan and Papio cytokine/chemokine induction broadly agrees with observed differences in susceptibility to bacterial diseases, however no association was found between putative pathogen/primate evolutionary environment and gene induction. While early innate immune responses tend to agree with primate evolutionary relationships, there are some notable exceptions to this pattern, including some cytokine responses that are agonist/pathogen-specific (i.e. IL-1beta, TNFalpha, IL-10, IL-6). Taken together, this data suggests a significant divergence between hominoid and baboon early innate immune responses since these species shared a last common ancestor 23--29 million years ago.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
