Person:
Arriero Higueras, Elena

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First Name
Elena
Last Name
Arriero Higueras
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/74340
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Biológicas
Department
Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución
Area
Zoología
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2017 - 20203
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Subject: 591.1 ×

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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Early exposure to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causes profound immunosuppression in amphibians
    (European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2017) Fernández-Loras, Andrés; Fernández-Beaskoetxea, Saioa; Arriero Higueras, Elena; Fisher, Matthew C.; Bosch López, Jaime Alfonso
    Fungal pathogens have evolved a broad suite of strategies aiming at evading the host immune response. Amphibians are globally infected by the panzootic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and, while robust innate immune defences have been characterised, there is little evidence for the existence of effective adaptive immunity. We determine the immune response of the common midwife toad following challenge by Bd as larvae. Immune function was described for both the cell-mediated and antibody-mediated immune responses following infectious challenge as larval amphibians. While there were no significant differences in the ratio of neutrophils/lymphocytes between infected and uninfected individuals, early exposure of tadpoles to Bd significantly dampened the levels of circulating immunoglobulins (IgM and IgY) in the serum of juveniles after metamorphosis. Our results show that Bd immunosuppresses amphibians when infection occurs as larvae with potentially broad effects on the remodelling of immunity during metamorphosis.
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    From the animal house to the field: Are there consistent individual differences in immunological profile in wild populations of field voles (Microtus agrestis)?
    (PLoS One, 2017) Arriero Higueras, Elena; Wanelik, Klara M.; Birtles, Richard J.; Bradley, Janette E.; Jackson, Joseph A.; Paterson, Steve; Begon, Mike
    Inbred mouse strains, living in simple laboratory environments far removed from nature, have been shown to vary consistently in their immune response. However, wildlife populations are typically outbreeding and face a multiplicity of challenges, parasitological and otherwise. In this study we seek evidence of consistent difference in immunological profile amongst individuals in the wild. We apply a novel method in this context, using longitudinal (repeated capture) data from natural populations of field voles, Microtus agrestis, on a range of life history and infection metrics, and on gene expression levels. We focus on three immune genes, IFN-γ, Gata3, and IL-10, representing respectively the Th1, Th2 and regulatory elements of the immune response. Our results show that there was clear evidence of consistent differences between individuals in their typical level of expression of at least one immune gene, and at most all three immune genes, after other measured sources of variation had been taken into account. Furthermore, individuals that responded to changing circumstances by increasing expression levels of Gata3 had a correlated increase in expression levels of IFN-γ. Our work stresses the importance of acknowledging immunological variation amongst individuals in studies of parasitological and infectious disease risk in wildlife populations.
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    Transcriptome-wide analysis reveals diferent categories of response to a standardised immune challenge in a wild rodent
    (Scientific Reports, 2020) Wanelik, Klara M.; Begon, Mike; Arriero Higueras, Elena; Bradley, Janette E.; Friberg, Ida M.; Jackson, Joseph A.; Taylor, Christopher H.; Paterson, Steve
    Individuals vary in their immune response and, as a result, some are more susceptible to infectious disease than others. Little is known about the nature of this individual variation in natural populations, or which components of immune pathways are most responsible, but defning this underlying landscape of variation is an essential frst step to understanding the drivers of this variation and, ultimately, predicting the outcome of infection. We describe transcriptome-wide variation in response to a standardised immune challenge in wild feld voles. We fnd that genes (hereafter 'markers') can be categorised into a limited number of types. For the majority of markers, the response of an individual is dependent on its baseline expression level, with signifcant enrichment in this category for conventional immune pathways. Another, moderately sized, category contains markers for which the responses of diferent individuals are also variable but independent of their baseline expression levels. This category lacks any enrichment for conventional immune pathways. We further identify markers which display particularly high individual variability in response, and could be used as markers of immune response in larger studies. Our work shows how a standardised challenge performed on a natural population can reveal the patterns of natural variation in immune response.