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Úbeda F, Wild G. Microchimerism as a source of information on future pregnancies. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231142. [PMID: 37608718 PMCID: PMC10445024 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Small numbers of fetal cells cross the placenta during pregnancy turning mothers into microchimeras. Fetal cells from all previous pregnancies accumulate forming the mother's fetal microchiome. What is significant about microchimeric cells is that they have been linked to health problems including reproductive and autoimmune diseases. Three decades after the discovery of fetal microchimerism, the function of these cells remains a mystery. Here, we contend that the role of microchimeric cells is to inform the fetus about the likelihood that its genes are present in future pregnancies. We argue that, when genes are more likely than average to be in future maternal siblings, fetuses will send a fixed number of cells that will not elicit a maternal immune response against them. However, when genes are less likely to be in future maternal siblings, fetuses will send an ever-increasing number of cells that will elicit an ever-stronger maternal immune response. Our work can explain the observed clinical association between microchimeric cells and pre-eclampsia. However, our work predicts that this association should be stronger in women with a genetically diverse microchiome. If supported by medical tests, our work would allow establishing the likelihood of pregnancy or autoimmune problems advising medical interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Úbeda
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Geoff Wild
- Department of Mathematics, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7
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Arnocky S, Hodges-Simeon C, Davis AC, Desmarais R, Greenshields A, Liwski R, Quillen EE, Cardenas R, Breedlove SM, Puts D. Heterozygosity of the major histocompatibility complex predicts later self-reported pubertal maturation in men. Sci Rep 2021; 11:19862. [PMID: 34615944 PMCID: PMC8494901 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-99334-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Individual variation in the age of pubertal onset is linked to physical and mental health, yet the factors underlying this variation are poorly understood. Life history theory predicts that individuals at higher risk of mortality due to extrinsic causes such as infectious disease should sexually mature and reproduce earlier, whereas those at lower risk can delay puberty and continue to invest resources in somatic growth. We examined relationships between a genetic predictor of infectious disease resistance, heterozygosity of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), referred to as the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene in humans, and self-reported pubertal timing. In a combined sample of men from Canada (n = 137) and the United States (n = 43), MHC heterozygosity predicted later self-reported pubertal development. These findings suggest a genetic trade-off between immunocompetence and sexual maturation in human males.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Anna Greenshields
- Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
| | - Robert Liwski
- Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
| | | | | | | | - David Puts
- Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA
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Gordon DS. Extrinsic and Existential Mortality Risk in Reproductive Decision-Making: Examining the Effects of COVID-19 Experience and Climate Change Beliefs. Front Psychol 2021; 12:644600. [PMID: 34220614 PMCID: PMC8253051 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.644600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an immediate risk to human life around the world, climate change poses an arguably greater-although less immediate-threat to our species' survival. Within the framework of life-history theory (LHT), this pre-registered study investigated whether extrinsic risk (i.e., external factors that pose a risk to an individual's life, e.g., COVID-19) and existential risk (i.e., risks with outcomes that threaten the existence of humans as a species, e.g., climate change) had similar or different relationships with reproductive decision-making. A UK representative sample of 325 participants between 18 and 35 years of age was asked to indicate their ideal number of children, ideal age to start having children, and whether their desire for a child had recently changed. Participants were asked about their experiences of COVID-19 and given a series of scales with which to assess their beliefs about climate change. In support of LHT, the study found evidence that knowing people who had been hospitalized with or died of COVID-19 was associated with a greater ideal number of children. Conversely, there was no clear evidence of a relationship between climate change beliefs and reproductive decision-making. The repercussions for understanding how we interpret and respond to different forms of mortality risk are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S. Gordon
- School of Psychology, University of Chester, Chester, United Kingdom
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Murray DR, Moran JB, Prokosch ML, Kerry N. No evidence for a relationship between MHC heterozygosity and life history strategy in a sample of North American undergraduates. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10140. [PMID: 32576939 PMCID: PMC7311407 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67406-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2019] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Although allelic diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has implications for adaptive immunity, mate choice, and social signalling, how diversity at the MHC influences the calibration of life history strategies remains largely uninvestigated. The current study investigated whether greater MHC heterozygosity was associated with markers of slower life history strategies in a sample of 789 North American undergraduates. Contrary to preregistered predictions and to previously published findings, MHC heterozygosity was not related to any of the psychological life history-relevant variables measured (including short- vs. long-term sexual strategy, temporal discounting, the Arizona life history battery, past and current health, disgust sensitivity, and Big Five personality traits). Further, no meaningful effects emerged when analysing women and men separately. Possible reasons for why the current results are inconsistent with previous work are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damian R Murray
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA.
| | - James B Moran
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
| | - Marjorie L Prokosch
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
| | - Nicholas Kerry
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, 2007 Percival Stern Hall, New Orleans, LA, 70118, USA
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Luoto S, Krams I, Rantala MJ. A Life History Approach to the Female Sexual Orientation Spectrum: Evolution, Development, Causal Mechanisms, and Health. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2019; 48:1273-1308. [PMID: 30229521 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-018-1261-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2017] [Revised: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/14/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
Women's capacity for sexual fluidity is at least as interesting a phenomenon from the point of view of evolutionary biology and behavioral endocrinology as exclusively homosexual orientation. Evolutionary hypotheses for female nonheterosexuality have failed to fully account for the existence of these different categories of nonheterosexual women, while also overlooking broader data on the causal mechanisms, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of female nonheterosexuality. We review the evolutionary-developmental origins of various phenotypes in the female sexual orientation spectrum using the synergistic approach of Tinbergen's four questions. We also present femme-specific and butch-specific hypotheses at proximate and ultimate levels of analysis. This review article indicates that various nonheterosexual female phenotypes emerge from and contribute to hormonally mediated fast life history strategies. Life history theory provides a biobehavioral explanatory framework for nonheterosexual women's masculinized body morphology, psychological dispositions, and their elevated likelihood of experiencing violence, substance use, obesity, teenage pregnancy, and lower general health. This pattern of life outcomes can create a feedback loop of environmental unpredictability and harshness which destabilizes intrauterine hormonal conditions in mothers, leading to a greater likelihood of fast life history strategies, global health problems, and nonheterosexual preferences in female offspring. We further explore the potential of female nonheterosexuality to function as an alloparental buffer that enables masculinizing alleles to execute their characteristic fast life history strategies as they appear in the female and the male phenotype. Synthesizing life history theory with the female sexual orientation spectrum enriches existing scientific knowledge on the evolutionary-developmental mechanisms of human sex differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Severi Luoto
- English, Drama and Writing Studies, University of Auckland, Arts 1, Building 206, Room 616, 14A Symonds St., Auckland, 1010, New Zealand.
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
| | - Indrikis Krams
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Markus J Rantala
- Department of Biology & Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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Murray DR, Prokosch ML, Airington Z. PsychoBehavioroimmunology: Connecting the Behavioral Immune System to Its Physiological Foundations. Front Psychol 2019; 10:200. [PMID: 30804853 PMCID: PMC6378957 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Although infectious disease has posed a significant and persistent threat to human survival and welfare throughout history, only recently have the psychological and behavioral implications of disease threat become a topic of research within the behavioral sciences. This growing body of work has revealed a suite of affective and cognitive processes that motivate the avoidance of disease-causing objects and situations—a cascade of processes loosely conceptualized as a “behavioral immune system (BIS).” Recent BIS research has linked disease threat to a surprisingly broad set of psychological and behavioral phenomena. However, research examining how the BIS is nested within our broader physiology is only beginning to emerge. Here, we review research that has begun to elucidate the physiological foundations of the BIS—at the levels of sensory modalities, cells, and genes. We also discuss the future of this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Damian R Murray
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
| | | | - Zachary Airington
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United States
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Krams I, Luoto S, Rubika A, Krama T, Elferts D, Krams R, Kecko S, Skrinda I, Moore FR, Rantala MJ. A head start for life history development? Family income mediates associations between height and immune response in men. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 168:421-427. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2018] [Revised: 10/07/2018] [Accepted: 10/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Indrikis Krams
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences; University of Tartu; Tartu Estonia
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology; University of Latvia; Rīga Latvia
- Department of Biotechnology; Daugavpils University; Daugavpils Latvia
| | - Severi Luoto
- English, Drama and Writing Studies; University of Auckland; Auckland New Zealand
- School of Psychology; University of Auckland; Auckland New Zealand
| | - Anna Rubika
- Department of Anatomy and Physiology; Daugavpils University; Daugavpils Latvia
| | - Tatjana Krama
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences; University of Tartu; Tartu Estonia
- Department of Biotechnology; Daugavpils University; Daugavpils Latvia
| | - Didzis Elferts
- Department of Botany and Ecology, Faculty of Biology; University of Latvia; Rīga Latvia
| | - Ronalds Krams
- Department of Biotechnology; Daugavpils University; Daugavpils Latvia
| | - Sanita Kecko
- Department of Biotechnology; Daugavpils University; Daugavpils Latvia
| | | | - Fhionna R. Moore
- School of Psychology; University of Dundee; Dundee United Kingdom
| | - Markus J. Rantala
- Department of Biology; University of Turku; Turku Finland
- Turku Brain and Mind Centre; University of Turku; Turku Finland
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Ackerman JM, Hill SE, Murray DR. The behavioral immune system: Current concerns and future directions. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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