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Jackson JA, Stewart A, Cable J. Lunar-linked biological rhythms in the immune system of freshwater three-spined stickleback. DISCOVERY IMMUNOLOGY 2024; 3:kyae007. [PMID: 38863794 PMCID: PMC11165434 DOI: 10.1093/discim/kyae007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2023] [Revised: 04/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
Immune responses are widely accepted to be under circadian regulation via a molecular clock, with many practical consequences, but much less is known of how other biological rhythms could affect the immune system. In this study, we search for lunar rhythms (circalunar, circasemilunar, and circatidal cycles) in the immune expression of the recently marine-derived freshwater fish, the low-plate morph of the three-spined stickleback. We employed time series of immune expression (mRNA) measurements for 14 immune-associated genes, representing a variety of immunological pathways. Times series measurements were taken on fish populations in the wild, in seminatural outdoor mesocosms, and in the laboratory, according to sampling regimens originally designed to study circannual variation but with the additional potential to provide information about lunar variation. Our evidence best supported the existence of a very small endogenous tidal rhythm. This is consistent with previous suggestions of the existence of a primordial tidal endogenous clock, some elements of which may be conserved in animals evolving outside the marine environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph A Jackson
- School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Salford, UK
| | - Alexander Stewart
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
| | - Joanne Cable
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
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Marchand A, Tebby C, Beaudouin R, Catteau A, Porcher JM, Turiès C, Bado-Nilles A. Reliability evaluation of biomarker reference ranges for mesocosm and field conditions: Cellular innate immunomarkers in Gasterosteus aculeatus. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 698:134333. [PMID: 31783456 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Revised: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Due to their sensitivity to environmental contamination and their link with fish health status, innate immunomarkers are of great interest for environmental risk assessment studies. Nevertheless, the lack of knowledge about the effect of confounding factors can lead to data misinterpretation and false diagnostics. So, the determination of reference values was of huge interest for the integration of biomarkers in biomonitoring programs. Laboratory immunomarker reference ranges (including cellular mortality, leucocyte distribution, phagocytosis activity, respiratory burst and lysosomal presence) that consider three confounding factors (season, sex and body size) were previously developed in three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, from our husbandry. Usefulness of these reference ranges in biomonitoring programs depends on how they can be transposed to various experimental levels, such as mesocosm (outdoor artificial pond) and field conditions. Immunomarkers were therefore measured every 2 months over 1 year in one mesocosm and in one site assumed to uncontaminated (Houdancourt, field). Differences between immunomarker seasonal variations in mesocosm and field fish on one side and laboratory fish on the other side were quantified: in some cases, seasonal trends were not significant or did not differ between mesocosm and laboratory conditions, but overall, models developed based on data obtained in laboratory conditions were poorly predictive of data obtained in mesocosm or field conditions. To propose valuable field reference ranges, mesocosm and field data were integrated in innate immunomarker modelling in order to strengthen the knowledge on the effect of confounding factors. As in laboratory conditions, sex was overall a confounding factor only for necrotic cell percentage and granulocyte-macrophage distribution and size was a confounding factor only for cellular mortality, leucocyte distribution and phagocytosis activity. Confounding factors explained a large proportion of immunomarker variability in particular for phagocytosis activity and lysosomal presence. Further research is needed to test the field models in a biomonitoring program to compare the sensitivity of immunomarkers to the confounding factors identified in this study and the sensitivity to various levels of pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrien Marchand
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Moulin de la Housse, B.P. 1039, 51687 Reims, France
| | - Cleo Tebby
- INERIS, Unit of Models for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology (METO), Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Rémy Beaudouin
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France; INERIS, Unit of Models for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology (METO), Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Audrey Catteau
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Jean-Marc Porcher
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Cyril Turiès
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Anne Bado-Nilles
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS), UMR-I 02 SEBIO, Parc Technologique Alata, BP 2, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France.
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Masud N, Synnott R, Hablützel PI, Friberg IM, Cable J, Jackson JA. Not going with the flow: Locomotor activity does not constrain immunity in a wild fish. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:12089-12098. [PMID: 31832146 PMCID: PMC6854097 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Revised: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunity is a central component of fitness in wild animals, but its determinants are poorly understood. In particular, the importance of locomotory activity as a constraint on immunity is unresolved. Using a piscine model (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we combined a 25-month observational time series for a wild lotic habitat with an open flume experiment to determine the influence of locomotor activity (countercurrent swimming) on natural variation in immune function. To maximize the detectability of effects in our flume experiment, we set flow velocity and duration (10 cm/s for 48 hr) just below the point at which exhaustion would ensue. Following this treatment, we measured expression in a set of immune-associated genes and infectious disease resistance through a standard challenge with an ecologically relevant monogenean infection (Gyrodactylus gasterostei). In the wild, there was a strong association of water flow with the expression of immune-associated genes, but this association became modest and more complex when adjusted for thermal effects. Our flume experiment, although statistically well-powered and based on a scenario near the limits of swimming performance in stickleback, detected no countercurrent swimming effect on immune-associated gene expression or infection resistance. The field association between flow rate and immune expression could thus be due to an indirect effect, and we tentatively advance hypotheses to explain this. This study clarifies the drivers of immune investment in wild vertebrates; although locomotor activity, within the normal natural range, may not directly influence immunocompetence, it may still correlate with other variables that do.
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Affiliation(s)
- Numair Masud
- School of BiosciencesCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
| | - Rebecca Synnott
- School of Environment and Life SciencesUniversity of SalfordSalfordUK
| | - Pascal I. Hablützel
- IBERSAberystwyth UniversityAberystwythUK
- Flanders Marine InstituteOostendeBelgium
- Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary GenomicsBiology DepartmentUniversity of LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
| | - Ida M. Friberg
- School of Environment and Life SciencesUniversity of SalfordSalfordUK
| | - Joanne Cable
- School of BiosciencesCardiff UniversityCardiffUK
| | - Joseph A. Jackson
- School of Environment and Life SciencesUniversity of SalfordSalfordUK
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Friberg IM, Taylor JD, Jackson JA. Diet in the Driving Seat: Natural Diet-Immunity-Microbiome Interactions in Wild Fish. Front Immunol 2019; 10:243. [PMID: 30837993 PMCID: PMC6389695 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 01/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural interactions between the diet, microbiome, and immunity are largely unstudied. Here we employ wild three-spined sticklebacks as a model, combining field observations with complementary experimental manipulations of diet designed to mimic seasonal variation in the wild. We clearly demonstrate that season-specific diets are a powerful causal driver of major systemic immunophenotypic variation. This effect occurred largely independently of the bulk composition of the bacterial microbiome (which was also driven by season and diet) and of host condition, demonstrating neither of these, per se, constrain immune allocation in healthy individuals. Nonetheless, through observations in multiple anatomical compartments, differentially exposed to the direct effects of food and immunity, we found evidence of immune-driven control of bacterial community composition in mucus layers. This points to the interactive nature of the host-microbiome relationship, and is the first time, to our knowledge, that this causal chain (diet → immunity → microbiome) has been demonstrated in wild vertebrates. Microbiome effects on immunity were not excluded and, importantly, we identified outgrowth of potentially pathogenic bacteria (especially mycolic-acid producing corynebacteria) as a consequence of the more animal-protein-rich summertime diet. This may provide part of the ultimate explanation (and possibly a proximal cue) for the dramatic immune re-adjustments that we saw in response to diet change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ida M Friberg
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
| | - Joe D Taylor
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph A Jackson
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
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Muscle transcriptome resource for growth, lipid metabolism and immune system in Hilsa shad, Tenualosa ilisha. Genes Genomics 2018; 41:1-15. [PMID: 30196475 DOI: 10.1007/s13258-018-0732-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2017] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The information on the genes involved in muscle growth, lipid metabolism and immune systems would help to understand the mechanisms during the spawning migration in Hilsa shad, which in turn would be useful in its future domestication process. The primary objective of this study was to generate the transcriptome profile of its muscle through RNA seq. The total RNA was isolated and library was prepared from muscle tissue of Tenualosa ilisha, which was collected from Padma River at Farakka, India. The prepared library was then sequenced by Illumina HiSeq platform, HiSeq 2000, using paired-end strategy. A total of 8.68 GB of pair-end reads of muscle transcriptome was generated, and 43,384,267 pair-end reads were assembled into 3,04,233 contigs, of which 23.99% of assembled contigs has length ≥ 150 bp. The total GO terms were categorised into cellular component, molecular function and biological process through PANTHER database. Fifty-three genes related to muscle growth were identified and genes in different pathways were: 75 in PI3/AKT, 46 in mTOR, 76 in MAPK signalling, 24 in Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription, 45 in AMPK and 27 in cGMP pathways. This study also mined the genes involved in lipid metabolism, in which glycerophospholipid metabolism contained highest number of genes (32) and four were found to be involved in fatty acid biosynthesis. There were 58 immune related genes found, in which 31 were under innate and 27 under adaptive immunity. The present study included a large genomic resource of T. ilisha muscle generated through RNAseq, which revealed the essential dataset for our understanding of regulatory processes, specifically during the seasonal spawning migration. As Hilsa is a slow growing fish, the genes identified for muscle growth provided the basic information to study myogenesis. In addition, genes identified for lipid metabolism and immune system would provide resources for lipid synthesis and understanding of Hilsa defense mechanisms, respectively.
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Stewart A, Hablützel PI, Watson HV, Brown M, Friberg IM, Cable J, Jackson JA. Physical Cues Controlling Seasonal Immune Allocation in a Natural Piscine Model. Front Immunol 2018; 9:582. [PMID: 29623078 PMCID: PMC5874293 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Seasonal patterns in immunity are frequently observed in vertebrates but are poorly understood. Here, we focused on a natural piscine model, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), and asked how seasonal immune allocation is driven by physical variables (time, light, and heat). Using functionally-relevant gene expression metrics as a reporter of seasonal immune allocation, we synchronously sampled fish monthly from the wild (two habitats), and from semi-natural outdoors mesocosms (stocked from one of the wild habitats). This was repeated across two annual cycles, with continuous within-habitat monitoring of environmental temperature and implementing a manipulation of temperature in the mesocosms. We also conducted a long-term laboratory experiment, subjecting acclimated wild fish to natural and accelerated (×2) photoperiodic change at 7 and 15°C. The laboratory experiment demonstrated that immune allocation was independent of photoperiod and only a very modest effect, at most, was controlled by a tentative endogenous circannual rhythm. On the other hand, experimentally-determined thermal effects were able to quantitatively predict much of the summer–winter fluctuation observed in the field and mesocosms. Importantly, however, temperature was insufficient to fully predict, and occasionally was a poor predictor of, natural patterns. Thermal effects can thus be overridden by other (unidentified) natural environmental variation and do not take the form of an unavoidable constraint due to cold-blooded physiology. This is consistent with a context-dependent strategic control of immunity in response to temperature variation, and points to the existence of temperature-sensitive regulatory circuits that might be conserved in other vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Stewart
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.,Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
| | - Pascal I Hablützel
- IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom.,Flanders Marine Institute, Oostende, Belgium.,Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Biology Department, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hayley V Watson
- IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom.,School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, United Kingdom
| | - Martha Brown
- IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
| | - Ida M Friberg
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
| | - Joanne Cable
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph A Jackson
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
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Stewart A, Hablützel PI, Brown M, Watson HV, Parker-Norman S, Tober AV, Thomason AG, Friberg IM, Cable J, Jackson JA. Half the story: Thermal effects on within-host infectious disease progression in a warming climate. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2018; 24:371-386. [PMID: 28746785 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2017] [Accepted: 07/12/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Immune defense is temperature dependent in cold-blooded vertebrates (CBVs) and thus directly impacted by global warming. We examined whether immunity and within-host infectious disease progression are altered in CBVs under realistic climate warming in a seasonal mid-latitude setting. Going further, we also examined how large thermal effects are in relation to the effects of other environmental variation in such a setting (critical to our ability to project infectious disease dynamics from thermal relationships alone). We employed the three-spined stickleback and three ecologically relevant parasite infections as a "wild" model. To generate a realistic climatic warming scenario we used naturalistic outdoors mesocosms with precise temperature control. We also conducted laboratory experiments to estimate thermal effects on immunity and within-host infectious disease progression under controlled conditions. As experimental readouts we measured disease progression for the parasites and expression in 14 immune-associated genes (providing insight into immunophenotypic responses). Our mesocosm experiment demonstrated significant perturbation due to modest warming (+2°C), altering the magnitude and phenology of disease. Our laboratory experiments demonstrated substantial thermal effects. Prevailing thermal effects were more important than lagged thermal effects and disease progression increased or decreased in severity with increasing temperature in an infection-specific way. Combining laboratory-determined thermal effects with our mesocosm data, we used inverse modeling to partition seasonal variation in Saprolegnia disease progression into a thermal effect and a latent immunocompetence effect (driven by nonthermal environmental variation and correlating with immune gene expression). The immunocompetence effect was large, accounting for at least as much variation in Saprolegnia disease as the thermal effect. This suggests that managers of CBV populations in variable environments may not be able to reliably project infectious disease risk from thermal data alone. Nevertheless, such projections would be improved by primarily considering prevailing thermal effects in the case of within-host disease and by incorporating validated measures of immunocompetence.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Pascal I Hablützel
- IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
- Flanders Marine Institute, Oostende, Belgium
- Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Biology Department, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Hayley V Watson
- IBERS, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, UK
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | | | - Anya V Tober
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Anna G Thomason
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK
| | - Ida M Friberg
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK
| | - Joanne Cable
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Joseph A Jackson
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, UK
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Hook, Line and Infection: A Guide to Culturing Parasites, Establishing Infections and Assessing Immune Responses in the Three-Spined Stickleback. ADVANCES IN PARASITOLOGY 2017; 98:39-109. [PMID: 28942772 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apar.2017.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a model organism with an extremely well-characterized ecology, evolutionary history, behavioural repertoire and parasitology that is coupled with published genomic data. These small temperate zone fish therefore provide an ideal experimental system to study common diseases of coldwater fish, including those of aquacultural importance. However, detailed information on the culture of stickleback parasites, the establishment and maintenance of infections and the quantification of host responses is scattered between primary and grey literature resources, some of which is not readily accessible. Our aim is to lay out a framework of techniques based on our experience to inform new and established laboratories about culture techniques and recent advances in the field. Here, essential knowledge on the biology, capture and laboratory maintenance of sticklebacks, and their commonly studied parasites is drawn together, highlighting recent advances in our understanding of the associated immune responses. In compiling this guide on the maintenance of sticklebacks and a range of common, taxonomically diverse parasites in the laboratory, we aim to engage a broader interdisciplinary community to consider this highly tractable model when addressing pressing questions in evolution, infection and aquaculture.
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