Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35050541›Full record

ArticleEcology letters2022

Contemporary selection on MHC genes in a free-living ruminant population.

Wei Huang, Kara L Dicks, Jarrod D Hadfield, Susan E Johnston, Keith T Ballingall, Josephine M Pemberton

Open access · hybridAbstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in Ecology letters, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. MHC Diversity Across Time and Space.Ecology and evolution · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Wei HuangInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0773-0105
Kara L DicksInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Jarrod D HadfieldInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7990-2677
Susan E JohnstonInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Keith T BallingallMoredun Research Institute, Edinburgh, UK.
Josephine M PembertonInstitute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0075-1504
University of Edinburgh · GBMoredun Research Institute · GBRoyal Zoological Society of Scotland · GB

Funding

European Research CouncilEuropean Union's Horizon 2020 731014KBUK Natural Environment Research Council
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Genes within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are the most variable identified in vertebrates. Pathogen-mediated selection is believed to be the main force maintaining MHC diversity. However, relatively few studies have demonstrated contemporary selection on MHC genes. Here, we examine associations between MHC variation and several fitness measurements including total fitness and five fitness components, in 3400 wild Soay sheep (Ovis aries) monitored between 1989 and 2012. In terms of total fitness, measured as lifetime breeding success of all individuals born, we found haplotypes named C and D were associated with decreased and increased male total fitness respectively. In terms of fitness components, juvenile survival was associated with haplotype divergence while individual haplotypes (C, D and F) were associated with adult fitness components. Consistent with the increased male total fitness, the rarest haplotype D has increased in frequency throughout the study period more than expected under neutral expectations. Our results demonstrate that contemporary natural selection is acting on MHC class II genes in Soay sheep and that the mode of selection on specific fitness components can be different mode from selection on total fitness.

Indexed as

Major Histocompatibility ComplexSelection, GeneticAllelesAnimalsGenetic VariationHaplotypesMaleSheepMHCselectionsoay sheep

Identifiers

PMID35050541
PMCPMC9306867
OpenAlexW4206216939

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.