In article <frodes-0606951126500001 at tirpitz.ibg.uit.no> Frode Skarstein,
frodes at ibg.uit.no writes:
>This is where you immunology people come in. I would love to hear how you
>guys define "genetic resistance". What heritable aspects of the immune
>defence can enable some host genotypes to deal with a given pathogen
while
>other host genotypes succumb?
I am a simple immunologist who may have totally missed your point. But
here goes.
I have a comment on a single aspect of your question. Genetic resistance
has an interesting outcome in MHC within a species. There has evolved a
process such that the MHC region is hypermutated within a species and the
diversity is enormous. wheras most genes within a species is virtually
identical. This diversity is assumed to be a mechnism that the species
can deal with varied organisms at a species level. If a %age of the
species can not present the organisms peptide properly they will die but
the diversity of the MHC allows others in the species to mount a proper
immune response. So here is a mechanism that a species has developed to
evolve into a diverse group so as to protect itself. Interestingly,
Cheetahs are now known to be of a single MHC. This is either due to the
small # in the world or this cat never developed the machinery the
diversify within a species. It may not be what you were looking for but
there is it.......
