Publication details
THE MHC VARIABILITY AND PARASITISM IN THE FRESHWATER FISH POPULATIONS UNDER THE DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
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| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The genetic profile corresponding to the immune system of the individuals within a given population could be altered by long termed environmental modifications caused by chemical pollution. The populations genetically adapted to chemical pollution should show the specific signatures of amino acid substitution and potentially are more parasitized than the population from the unpolluted sites. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) represents the group of genes involving in specific immune response. It was predicted that the MHC polymorphism is maintained by pathogen or parasite driven selection. We hypothesized and tested that MHC population profile in freshwater fish is a result of the direct effects of chemical pollutants and/or indirect parasite mediated selection. Three populations of gudgeon, Gobio gobio (Cyprinidae), collected from the localities differing by the environmental pollution (including heavy metals, PCBs, PAHs and p,p -DDE) were studied. Fish were investigated for the metazoan parasites and the species of Monogenea, Digenea, Cestoda and Acanthocephala were found. The differences in occurrence of the metazoan parasites were observed as well as the parasite intensity infection was different when comparing three localities. The higher fish condition was recorded in the locality with lower level of PAHs and EROD activity (measure of chemical toxicity in fish) connected with lower parasite abundance and absence of two monogenean species. The differences in MHC profiles were found among localities including the different type of expressed MHC alleles, the different haplotypes with specific nucleotide substitutions and different nucleotide variability within population. The results indicated that the different MHC structure of populations represents both direct effect of environmental pollution and indirect parasite mediated selection. |
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