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Into the wild: digging at immunology's evolutionary roots

Nature Immunology volume 14, pages 879–883 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The two pillars of modern immunology have been man and mouse; in both settings, investigators seek to reduce complexity and control environmental conditions. However, the world outside the laboratory is immensely variable; this is not 'noise' but represents the genetic and environmental framework in which the immune system evolved and functions. Placing the ever-growing understanding of immunological mechanisms in wider real-world contexts is a massive but fundamentally important challenge.

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Figure 1: The continuum from laboratory model organism to a truly wild organism.

Marina Corral Spence

Figure 2: Environmental factors in natural settings and various parasites can interact with the immune system in complex ways to influence both the nature and strength of the immune response and its consequences for reproductive fitness.

Marina Corral Spence

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Pedersen, S. Reece, R. Zamoyska and K. Watt for discussion and comments. Supported by the American Asthma Foundation (R.M.M.), the Kenneth Rainin Foundation (R.M.M.), the Wellcome Trust (R.M.M.) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (D.H.N.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rick M. Maizels and Daniel H. Nussey are with the Institute of Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, and the Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.,

    Rick M Maizels & Daniel H Nussey

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  1. Rick M Maizels
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  2. Daniel H Nussey
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Correspondence to Rick M Maizels.

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Maizels, R., Nussey, D. Into the wild: digging at immunology's evolutionary roots. Nat Immunol 14, 879–883 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2643

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