Correlated evolution of oxidative physiology and MHC-based immunosurveillance in birds

Maintenance and activation of the immune system incurs costs, not only in terms of substrates and energy, but also via collateral oxidative damage to host cells or tissues during immune response. So far, associations between immune function and oxidative damage have been primarily investigated at intra-specific scales. Here, we hypothesized that pathogen-driven selection should favour evolution of effective immunosurveillance mechanisms (e.g. Major Histocompatibility Complex, MHC) and antioxidant defences to mitigate oxidative damage resulting from immune function. Using phylogenetically-informed comparative approaches, we provided evidence for correlated evolution of host oxidative physiology and MHC-based immunosurveillance in birds. Species selected for more robust MHC-based immunosurveillance (higher gene copy numbers and allele diversity) showed stronger antioxidant defences, although selection for MHC diversity still showed a positive evolutionary association with oxidative damage..., , , # Title of Dataset: Correlated evolution of oxidative physiology and MHC-based immunosurveillance in birds

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## Description of the data and file structure

Minias_et_al_species_DATA.xlsx file contains species-specific data used in the phylogenetically-informed comparative analyses of oxidative physiology and Major Histocompatibility (MHC) genes.

MHC_gene_copy_number spreadsheet contains data used for the analyses of MHC gene copy number variation (n = 50 species), including information on:

1. Species
2. TAS_mean - mean total antioxidant status
3. TAS_corrected_UA - total antioxidant status corrected for variation in uric acid (best linear unbiased estimate)
4. TAS_corrected_year - total antioxidant status corrected for between-year variation (best linear unbiased estimate)
5. TAS_n - sample size for total antioxidant status (number of individuals measured)
6. UA_mean - mean uric acid
7. UA_corrected_year - uric acid corrected for between-year variation (best linear unbiased...