MHC class II supertypes affect survival and lifetime reproductive
success in a migratory songbird
Abstract
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a critical role in the
immune response against pathogens. Its high polymorphism is thought to
be mainly the consequence of host-pathogen co-evolution, but elucidating
the mechanism(s) driving MHC evolution remains challenging for natural
populations. We investigated the diversity of MHC class II genes in a
wild population of pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca, and tested its
associations with two key components of individual fitness: lifetime
reproductive success and survival. Among 180 breeding adults in our
study population, we found 182 unique MHC class II exon 2 alleles. The
alleles showed a strong signal of positive selection and grouped into 9
functional supertypes based on physicochemical properties at the
inferred antigen-binding sites. Three supertypes were found in
> 98% of the sampled individuals, indicating that they are
nearly fixed in the population. We found no rare supertypes in the
population, as all supertypes were present in >70% of
individuals. Three supertypes were related to different components of
individual fitness: two were associated with lower offspring production
over time, while the third was positively associated with survival.
Overall, the substantial allelic and functional diversity and the
relationship between specific supertypes and fitness is in accordance
with the notion that balancing selection maintains MHC class II
diversity in the study population, possibly with fluctuating selection
as the underlying mechanism. The absence of rare supertypes in the
population suggests that the balancing selection is not driven by
rare-allele advantage.