Spatiotemporal-social association predicts immunological similarity in rewilded mice

Environmental influences on immune phenotypes are well-documented, but our understanding of which elements of the environment affect immune systems, and how, remains vague. Behaviors, including socializing with others, are central to an individual’s interaction with its environment. We therefore tracked behavior of rewilded laboratory mice of three inbred strains in outdoor enclosures and examined contributions of behavior, including associations measured from spatiotemporal cooccurrences, to immune phenotypes. We found extensive variation in individual and social behavior among and within mouse strains upon rewilding.  And we found that the more associated two individuals were, the more similar their immune phenotypes were. Spatiotemporal association was particularly predictive of similar memory T and B cell profiles and was more influential than sibling relationships or shared infection status. These results highlight the importance of shared spatiotemporal activity patterns and/or social networks for immune phenotype and suggest potential immunological correlates of social life.

Methods
This dataset includes the data and analysis code for Downie et al. (2023 preprint, 202? publication). It is a mixture of immune cell phenotypes, serum cytokines, MLN cytokine production, microbiome (sequenced via 16S), and behavioral data from RFID check-ins. Please see the preprint (or eventual manuscript) for details about the methodology and degree of processing. The behavioral data is largely unprocessed, while the flow cytometry data and ELISA data are post-processing.