Primate innate immune responses to bacterial and viral pathogens reveals an evolutionary trade-off between strength and specificity

We report the whole genome transcriptomic responses of ape species (human, common chimpanzee) and AAMs (rhesus macaque and olive baboon) to bacterial and viral stimulation. We find stark differences in the responsiveness of these groups, with apes mounting a markedly stronger early transcriptional response to both viral and bacterial stimulation, altering the transcription of ~40% more genes than AAMs. Additionally, we find that genes involved in the regulation of inflammatory and interferon responses show the most divergent early transcriptional responses across primates and that this divergence is attenuated over time. Finally, we find that relative to AAMs, apes engage a much less specific immune response to different classes of pathogens during the early hours of infection, upregulating genes typical of anti-viral and anti-bacterial responses regardless of the nature of the stimulus Overall design: Whole blood stimulation of two stimulants that mimic bacterial and viral infections of whole blood obtained from 4 primate species, human, chimp, macaque and baboon.

本研究报道了类人猿物种（智人、普通黑猩猩）以及AAMs（恒河猴、橄榄狒狒）在细菌与病毒刺激下的全基因组转录应答特征。研究发现两类群体的应答反应存在显著差异：类人猿对病毒及细菌刺激的早期转录应答强度显著更高，其转录水平发生改变的基因数量较AAMs多出约40%。此外，本研究观察到，参与炎症与干扰素应答调控的基因在不同灵长类间的早期转录应答差异最为显著，且该差异随时间推移逐渐减弱。最后，相较于AAMs，类人猿在感染早期时段对不同类别病原体的免疫应答特异性显著更低，无论刺激源类型如何，均会上调抗病毒与抗菌应答相关的典型基因。实验整体设计：采集4种灵长类动物（人类、黑猩猩、恒河猴、狒狒）的全血，使用两种分别模拟细菌与病毒感染的刺激物对全血进行刺激处理。