Immunocompetence, ornamentation, and viability of male barn swallows (Hirundo rustica).

Immunocompetence (i.e., the ability to produce an immune response to pathogens) can be predicted to influence the chances that organisms have to survive and reproduce. In this study we simulated a challenge to the immune systems of male barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) by injecting them intraperitoneally with a multigenic antigen, sheep red blood cells, and we analyzed long-term survival in relation to their immunocompetence. Males were assigned to four groups that differed for the treatment of the length of the outermost tail feathers, a sexually dimorphic ornamental character that is currently under directional sexual selection. Immunocompetence was measured as change of concentration of gamma globulins relative to plasma proteins. The intensity of the immune response was independent of age. Males that showed the highest short-term response to sheep red blood cells were more likely to survive until the breeding season following that in which they had been inoculated, a pattern consistently observed within each experimental group. Males with comparatively long tails were more likely to survive than those with short tails. To our knowledge, the results of this study are the first to demonstrate that immunocompetence can predict long-term survival in a free-ranging vertebrate. Moreover, they are compatible with current models of parasite-mediated sexual selection because long-tailed males are more immunocompetent than short-tailed ones, and females, by preferring to mate with the most ornamented males, may acquire the "good genes" for high immunocompetence and, hence, for high viability of their offspring.

Induction of somites by myosin mRNA.

The effects of the messenger for myosin heavy chain (26S mRNA) on postnodal explants of chick embryo blastoderm were studied. Somites do not differentiate in the postnodal explants of chick embryo cultivated by New's method. They are induced when postnodal pieces are cultivated in the presence of a 26S mRNA extracted from chick leg muscles or in the presence of myosin. 26S mRNA plus actinomycin D induces small somites. 26S mRNA of duck, rabbit, or trout induce somite structures often built up of cells separated by large spaces and joined around a large myocele. Crayfish 26S mRNA or chick myosin light chain induce columnar cells connected around a cavity. Liver or kidney mRNA do not induce. The induction process can be summarized as follows: 26S mRNA codes for myosin (heavy chain) and the myosin (heavy chain) induces the somites. Induction of somites by mRNA can occur in the presence of actinomycin D but not when there is mRNA plus puromycin. It does occur when myosin acts in the presence of puromycin. Myosin and its heavy chain are present in chick blastoderm before the appearance of somites. Induced somites are able to induce neural plates. We conclude that in normal development somites are induced by myosin.