Understanding Vertebrate Immunity Through Comparative Immunology

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Immunol

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 2024 Sep 24

PMID 39317775

Authors

Thomas Boehm

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Evolutionary immunology has entered a new era. Classical studies, using just a handful of model animal species, combined with clinical observations, provided an outline of how innate and adaptive immunity work together to ensure tissue homeostasis and to coordinate the fight against infections. However, revolutionary advances in cellular and molecular biology, genomics and methods of genetic modification now offer unprecedented opportunities. They provide immunologists with the possibility to consider, at unprecedented scale, the impact of the astounding phenotypic diversity of vertebrates on immune system function. This Perspective is intended to highlight some of the many interesting, but largely unexplored, biological phenomena that are related to immune function among the roughly 60,000 existing vertebrate species. Importantly, hypotheses arising from such wide-ranging comparative studies can be tested in representative and genetically tractable species. The emerging general principles and the discovery of their evolutionarily selected variations may inspire the future development of novel therapeutic strategies for human immune disorders.

Citing Articles

Vertebrate TNF Superfamily: Evolution and Functional Insights.

Marin I Biology (Basel). 2025; 14(1).

PMID: 39857285 PMC: 11762692. DOI: 10.3390/biology14010054.

References

Kaufmann S . Immunology's foundation: the 100-year anniversary of the Nobel Prize to Paul Ehrlich and Elie Metchnikoff. Nat Immunol. 2008; 9(7):705-12. DOI: 10.1038/ni0708-705. View

BRUTON O . Agammaglobulinemia. Pediatrics. 1952; 9(6):722-8. View

PORTER H . The demonstration of delayed-type reactivity in congenital agammaglobulinemia. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1957; 64(5):932-5; discussion, 935-6. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1957.tb52484.x. View

Cooper M, Peterson R, GOOD R . DELINEATION OF THE THYMIC AND BURSAL LYMPHOID SYSTEMS IN THE CHICKEN. Nature. 1965; 205:143-6. DOI: 10.1038/205143a0. View

Wein T, Sorek R . Bacterial origins of human cell-autonomous innate immune mechanisms. Nat Rev Immunol. 2022; 22(10):629-638. DOI: 10.1038/s41577-022-00705-4. View

Cooper M, Alder M . The evolution of adaptive immune systems. Cell. 2006; 124(4):815-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.02.001. View

Boehm T, Hirano M, Holland S, Das S, Schorpp M, Cooper M . Evolution of Alternative Adaptive Immune Systems in Vertebrates. Annu Rev Immunol. 2017; 36:19-42. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-immunol-042617-053028. View

Janvier P . Facts and fancies about early fossil chordates and vertebrates. Nature. 2015; 520(7548):483-9. DOI: 10.1038/nature14437. View

Kumar S, Hedges S . A molecular timescale for vertebrate evolution. Nature. 1998; 392(6679):917-20. DOI: 10.1038/31927. View

10.

McFall-Ngai M . Adaptive immunity: care for the community. Nature. 2007; 445(7124):153. DOI: 10.1038/445153a. View

11.

Shine E, Crawford J . Molecules from the Microbiome. Annu Rev Biochem. 2021; 90:789-815. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-080320-115307. View

12.

Chung H, Pamp S, Hill J, Surana N, Edelman S, Troy E . Gut immune maturation depends on colonization with a host-specific microbiota. Cell. 2012; 149(7):1578-93. PMC: 3442780. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.04.037. View

13.

Schatz D, Oettinger M, Baltimore D . The V(D)J recombination activating gene, RAG-1. Cell. 1989; 59(6):1035-48. DOI: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90760-5. View

14.

Nagawa F, Kishishita N, Shimizu K, Hirose S, Miyoshi M, Nezu J . Antigen-receptor genes of the agnathan lamprey are assembled by a process involving copy choice. Nat Immunol. 2006; 8(2):206-13. DOI: 10.1038/ni1419. View

15.

Rogozin I, Iyer L, Liang L, Glazko G, Liston V, Pavlov Y . Evolution and diversification of lamprey antigen receptors: evidence for involvement of an AID-APOBEC family cytosine deaminase. Nat Immunol. 2007; 8(6):647-56. DOI: 10.1038/ni1463. View

16.

Morimoto R, OMeara C, Holland S, Trancoso I, Souissi A, Schorpp M . Cytidine deaminase 2 is required for antibody gene assembly in lampreys. Sci Immunol. 2020; 5(45). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aba0925. View

17.

Krishnan A, Iyer L, Holland S, Boehm T, Aravind L . Diversification of AID/APOBEC-like deaminases in metazoa: multiplicity of clades and widespread roles in immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018; 115(14):E3201-E3210. PMC: 5889660. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720897115. View

18.

Tsakou-Ngouafo L, Paganini J, Kaufman J, Pontarotti P . Origins of the RAG Transposome and the MHC. Trends Immunol. 2020; 41(7):561-571. DOI: 10.1016/j.it.2020.05.002. View

19.

Liu C, Zhang Y, Liu C, Schatz D . Structural insights into the evolution of the RAG recombinase. Nat Rev Immunol. 2021; 22(6):353-370. DOI: 10.1038/s41577-021-00628-6. View

20.

Boehm T, Morimoto R, Trancoso I, Aleksandrova N . Genetic conflicts and the origin of self/nonself-discrimination in the vertebrate immune system. Trends Immunol. 2023; 44(5):372-383. DOI: 10.1016/j.it.2023.02.007. View