Abstract
1 Comparative Immunogenetics Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America, 2 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America, 3 Borlaug Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America, 4 Department of Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, Texas, United States of America, 5 Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology, College Station, Texas, United States of America
Highlights
(1) Innate and Adaptive Immunity Are No Longer Black and White; There Are Increasing Shades of Grey
Innate immune systems use chemical, biochemical, or mechanical barriers to prevent pathogen attack. These systems, do not confer specific protection to organisms against pathogens that have assaulted them in the past; that is, classical innate systems do not provide immunological memory
The boundary between innate and adaptive systems has become blurred by an emerging appreciation of the many shades of immunological memory
Summary
In their struggle to survive and thrive, all living things must defend themselves from predatory attack. Innate immune systems use chemical, biochemical, or mechanical barriers to prevent pathogen attack These systems, do not confer specific protection to organisms against pathogens that have assaulted them in the past; that is, classical innate systems do not provide immunological memory. The boundary between innate and adaptive systems has become blurred by an emerging appreciation of the many shades of immunological memory. Recent studies in a wide range of species, have revealed unexpected forms of immune responses demonstrating specificity and immunological memory (Table 1). The bumblebee Bombus terrestris was shown to display pathogen species-specific immunity against two closely related taxa of the genus Paenibacillus [4] several weeks after immunization The mechanisms underlying this prophylactic effect, termed immunological priming with vertebrate lymphocytes, remain an area of active investigation. McTaggart et al, Biology Letters 2012 [2]; Little et al, Current Biology 2003 [3]
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