Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care
Abstract Males and females generally differ in resource investment strategies in order to maximise reproductive output. These strategies involve the control of important systemic processes such as self-maintenance and immune activity, which in turn could be traded-off against aspects of reproduction...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95268-4 |
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| author | Nikoletta A. Nagy José O. Valdebenito Johanna Lévai-Kiss Zoltán Rádai András Kosztolányi Tamás Székely Zoltán Barta |
| author_facet | Nikoletta A. Nagy José O. Valdebenito Johanna Lévai-Kiss Zoltán Rádai András Kosztolányi Tamás Székely Zoltán Barta |
| author_sort | Nikoletta A. Nagy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Males and females generally differ in resource investment strategies in order to maximise reproductive output. These strategies involve the control of important systemic processes such as self-maintenance and immune activity, which in turn could be traded-off against aspects of reproduction in a sex-specific manner. While some aspects of this immunomodulation have been previously shown in domestic animals, sex-specific immune modulation using repeated sampling over the breeding period has rarely been tested in the wild. Here we used Lethrus apterus, a sexually dimorphic beetle with parental care, to investigate the association between sex roles (e.g. offspring provisioning) and sex-specific immune gene expression. By determining the immune gene activation of males and females at five successive moments within the active season, we found that their sex-specific immune gene expression varies substantially across the active season, alternating between male bias to female bias and vice versa. Though, when pooling all sampling dates together, there was no overall difference in the number of up-regulated immune genes between the sexes. Sex roles in this beetle are associated with energetically demanding behaviours that could potentially explain our results. We highlight the importance of successive sampling protocols to understand ecological dynamics in the wild. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-7d353844f77d4e7fae5d2c2f044ac5a5 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-7d353844f77d4e7fae5d2c2f044ac5a52025-08-20T02:49:32ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-03-0115111110.1038/s41598-025-95268-4Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental careNikoletta A. Nagy0José O. Valdebenito1Johanna Lévai-Kiss2Zoltán Rádai3András Kosztolányi4Tamás Székely5Zoltán Barta6Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of DebrecenDepartment of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of DebrecenHUN-REN-UD Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology, University of DebrecenOne Health Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of DebrecenDepartment of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine BudapestDepartment of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of DebrecenDepartment of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of DebrecenAbstract Males and females generally differ in resource investment strategies in order to maximise reproductive output. These strategies involve the control of important systemic processes such as self-maintenance and immune activity, which in turn could be traded-off against aspects of reproduction in a sex-specific manner. While some aspects of this immunomodulation have been previously shown in domestic animals, sex-specific immune modulation using repeated sampling over the breeding period has rarely been tested in the wild. Here we used Lethrus apterus, a sexually dimorphic beetle with parental care, to investigate the association between sex roles (e.g. offspring provisioning) and sex-specific immune gene expression. By determining the immune gene activation of males and females at five successive moments within the active season, we found that their sex-specific immune gene expression varies substantially across the active season, alternating between male bias to female bias and vice versa. Though, when pooling all sampling dates together, there was no overall difference in the number of up-regulated immune genes between the sexes. Sex roles in this beetle are associated with energetically demanding behaviours that could potentially explain our results. We highlight the importance of successive sampling protocols to understand ecological dynamics in the wild.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95268-4GeotrupidaeLethrus apterusTranscriptomicsSexual selectionSex-biasImmunoecology |
| spellingShingle | Nikoletta A. Nagy José O. Valdebenito Johanna Lévai-Kiss Zoltán Rádai András Kosztolányi Tamás Székely Zoltán Barta Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care Scientific Reports Geotrupidae Lethrus apterus Transcriptomics Sexual selection Sex-bias Immunoecology |
| title | Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| title_full | Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| title_fullStr | Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| title_short | Shifts in sex-specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| title_sort | shifts in sex specific immune gene expression in a beetle with parental care |
| topic | Geotrupidae Lethrus apterus Transcriptomics Sexual selection Sex-bias Immunoecology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95268-4 |
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