ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2009
Immunity in a variable world.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 149 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
149 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics for patients with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis and umbrella review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of immune challenge on expression of life-history and immune trait expression in sexually reproducing metazoans-a meta-analysis.BMC biology · 2020Pooled it
- On the diverse and opposing effects of nutrition on pathogen virulence.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Pooled it
- Evolutionary Response Patterns of the RodentEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Constitutive and inducible fibrosis explain immune variation among threespine stickleback populations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Temperature Alters Specificity in a Host-Parasite Interaction.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Non-additive transcriptional regulation underpins an additive survival trait in populations of Drosophila selected for increased post infection survival.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Temperature alters specificity in a host-parasite interaction.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Host Prior Exposure Augments Gene Expression Heterogeneity of Both Host and Pathogen During In Vivo Infection.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Host-associated beneficial gut microbiota boosts induced immunity and limits immune deployment costs in bumblebees.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Host prior exposure augments heterogeneity in gene expression in both host and pathogen duringbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Crop diversity induces trade-offs in microbial biopesticide susceptibility that could delay pest resistance evolution.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Trypanosoma vivax elicits both Th1 and Th2 immunological responses in experimentally infected cattle.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Genetic and environmental interactions contribute to immune variation in rewilded mice.Nature immunology · 2024Article
- A simulated natural heatwave perturbs bumblebee immunity and resistance to infection.The Journal of animal ecology · 2024Article
- Growth and longevity modulation through larval environment mediate immunosenescence and immune strategy of Tenebrio molitor.Immunity & ageing : I & A · 2024Article
- Spatiotemporal-social association predicts immunological similarity in rewilded mice.Science advances · 2023Article
- AVirulence · 2023Article
- Article
89 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Immune function is likely to be a critical determinant of an organism's fitness, yet most natural animal and plant populations exhibit tremendous genetic variation for immune traits. Accumulating evidence suggests that environmental heterogeneity may retard the long-term efficiency of natural selection and even maintain polymorphism, provided alternative host genotypes are favoured under different environmental conditions. 'Environment' in this context refers to abiotic factors such as ambient temperature or availability of nutrient resources, genetic diversity of pathogens or competing physiological demands on the host. These factors are generally controlled in laboratory experiments measuring immune performance, but variation in them is likely to be very important in the evolution of resistance to infection. Here, we review some of the literature emphasizing the complexity of natural selection on immunity. Our aim is to describe how environmental and genetic heterogeneities, often excluded from experimentation as 'noise', may determine the evolutionary potential of populations or the potential for interacting species to coevolve.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.