Post doctoral project of Dr. Maike Diddens-de Buhr: "Transgenerational immunity – mechanisms and fitness consequences in an invertebrate, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum"

Basic data for this project

Description

Over the last few years it has become evident that invertebrate immunity is more plastic and specific than previously believed. Not only adaptive but also innate immunity shows memory towards pathogenic priming. Recent studies showed immunity to be transmitted from parents to offspring. Especially, paternal transgenerational immune priming came as a surprise. In this project it is planned to investigate the phenomenon of paternal and maternal transgenerational priming in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum in relation to environmental and pathogenic factors. In an evolutionary approach, potential fitness costs and benefits of transgenerational priming for fathers, mothers, and offspring will be examined. It is aimed to elucidate the mechanisms of (paternal) transgenerational priming, by first trying to discriminate between effects transmitted through sperm-DNA vs. seminal fluid. The next focus will be on DNA methylation and transferred RNA as candidate mechanisms mediating epigenetic effects. Transgenerational priming affects the phenotype but not the genotype. Because of this a great extent of transgenerational priming would strongly impact on current theory of host-parasite coevolution.