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Host immune status affects maturation time in two nematode species – but not as predicted by a simple life-history model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2003

M. A. GUINNEE ,
A. W. GEMMILL ,
B. H. K. CHAN ,
M. E. VINEY  and
A. F. READ
M. A. GUINNEE
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK
A. W. GEMMILL
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK Current address: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Repatriation Campus, Banksia Street, Heidelberg West, Victoria 3081, Australia.
B. H. K. CHAN
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK
M. E. VINEY
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UG, UK
A. F. READ
Affiliation:
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK
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Abstract

In theory, the age at which maturation occurs in parasitic nematodes is inversely related to pre-maturational mortality rate, and cross-species data on mammalian nematodes are consistent with this prediction. Immunity is a major source of parasite mortality and parasites stand to gain sizeable fitness benefits through short-term adjustments of maturation time in response to variation in immune-mediated mortality. The effects of thymus-dependent immune responses on maturation in the nematode parasites Strongyloides ratti and Nippostrongylus brasiliensis were investigated using congenitally thymus-deficient (nude) rats. As compared with worms in normal rats, reproductive maturity of parasites (presence of eggs in utero) in nude rats occurred later in S. ratti but earlier in N. brasiliensis. Immune-mediated differences in maturation time were not associated with differences in worm length. Thymus-dependent immunity had no effect on pre-maturational mortality. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical expectations and possible explanations for the observed patterns in parasite maturation.

Keywords

maturation timeNippostrongylus brasiliensisnude ratsparasitic nematodesStrongyloides ratti
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , November 2003 , pp. 507 - 512
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press

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