Lunar-linked biological rhythms in the immune system of freshwater three-spined stickleback

Jackson, Joseph A., Stewart, Alexander and Cable, Joanne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-7055 2024. Lunar-linked biological rhythms in the immune system of freshwater three-spined stickleback. Discovery Immunology 3 (1) , kyae007. 10.1093/discim/kyae007

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Abstract

Immune responses are widely accepted to be under circadian regulation via a molecular clock, with many practical consequences, but much less is known of how other biological rhythms could affect the immune system. In this study, we search for lunar rhythms (circalunar, circasemilunar, and circatidal cycles) in the immune expression of the recently marine-derived freshwater fish, the low-plate morph of the three-spined stickleback. We employed time series of immune expression (mRNA) measurements for 14 immune-associated genes, representing a variety of immunological pathways. Times series measurements were taken on fish populations in the wild, in seminatural outdoor mesocosms, and in the laboratory, according to sampling regimens originally designed to study circannual variation but with the additional potential to provide information about lunar variation. Our evidence best supported the existence of a very small endogenous tidal rhythm. This is consistent with previous suggestions of the existence of a primordial tidal endogenous clock, some elements of which may be conserved in animals evolving outside the marine environment.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, Type: cc-by-nc
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	2754-2483
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 June 2024
Date of Acceptance:	3 June 2024
Last Modified:	09 Oct 2024 12:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169769

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