Natural selection can act on all the expressed genes of an individual, leaving signatures of
genetic differentiation or diversity at many loci across the genome. New power to assay …

Over evolutionary time, pathogen challenge shapes the immune phenotype of the host to
better respond to an incipient threat. The extent and direction of this selection pressure …

Immune systems are of pivotal importance to any living organism on Earth, as they protect
the organism against deleterious effects of viral infections. Though the current knowledge …

Animal species differ considerably in their ability to fight off infections. Finding the genetic
basis of these differences is not easy, as the immune response is comprised of a complex …

Evolutionary Immunobiology addresses the fundamental question of how diverse organisms
recognize and respond to non-self, especially to the parasites and the pathogenic micro …

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a large genetic region with many genes,
including the highly polymorphic classical class I and II genes that play crucial roles in …

Several recent findings in the field of comparative immunology have reinforced the
importance of examining the molecular and functional features of immune systems in a …

Insects are an important model for the study of innate immune systems, but remarkably little
is known about the immune system of other arthropod groups despite their importance as …

Host responses against invading pathogens are basic physiological reactions of all living
organisms. Since the appearance of the first eukaryotic cells, a series of defense …

High immune specificity is usually considered an exclusive property of vertebrate adaptive
immunity. Surprisingly, similar specificities were recently discovered in the invertebrates …