Data from: Long antibody persistence and transgenerational transfer of immunity in a long-lived vertebrate

Although little studied in natural populations, the persistence of immunoglobulins may dramatically affect the dynamics of immunity and the ecology and evolution of host-pathogen interactions involving vertebrate hosts. By means of a multiple-year vaccination design against Newcastle disease virus, we experimentally addressed whether levels of specific antibodies can persist over several years in females of a long-lived procellariiform seabird—Cory’s shearwater—and whether maternal antibodies against that antigen could persist over a long period in offspring several years after the mother was exposed. We found that a single vaccination led to high levels of antibodies for several years and that the females transmitted antibodies to their offspring that persisted for several weeks after hatching even 5 years after a single vaccination. The temporal persistence of maternally transferred antibodies in nestlings was highly dependent on the level at hatching. A second vaccination boosted efficiently the level of antibodies in females and thus their transfer to offspring. Overall, these results stress the need to consider the temporal dynamics of immune responses if we are to understand the evolutionary ecology of host-parasite interactions and trade-offs between immunity and other life-history characteristics, in particular in long-lived species. They also have strong implications for conservation when vaccination may be used in natural populations facing disease threats.

尽管在自然种群中鲜有研究，但免疫球蛋白（immunoglobulins）的持续存在可能会显著影响免疫动态，以及涉及脊椎动物宿主的宿主-病原体相互作用的生态与进化过程。本研究通过针对新城疫病毒（Newcastle disease virus）的多年疫苗接种实验设计，实验性地探究了两个科学问题：其一，长寿鹱形目（procellariiform）海鸟——科里氏剪水鹱（Cory’s shearwater）的雌性个体体内的特异性抗体水平能否持续数年；其二，母体暴露于该抗原（antigen）数年后，其体内针对该抗原的母源抗体（maternal antibodies）能否在子代中长期存在。研究发现，单次疫苗接种可使抗体水平维持数年之久，且雌性个体可将抗体传递给子代，即使在单次接种5年后，子代体内的抗体仍可在孵化后持续数周。雏鸟体内母源传递抗体的时间持续性高度依赖于孵化时的抗体水平。再次接种可有效提升雌性个体的抗体水平，进而增强抗体向子代的传递效率。总体而言，本研究结果强调，若要理解宿主-寄生虫相互作用的进化生态学，以及免疫与其他生活史特征之间的权衡关系，尤其是在长寿物种中，必须考虑免疫应答的时间动态。此外，当在面临疾病威胁的自然种群中实施疫苗接种时，本研究结果也为保护实践提供了重要启示。