BBC News - Social rank 'linked to immunity'
A study of rhesus macaque monkeys may have solved a long-standing puzzle on a link between social rank and health.A study of 10 social groups of macaque females showed that the activity level of an individual's immune genes was an accurate predictor of her social rank.
In a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team also showed that the monkey's immunity changed when social rank was altered.
The work suggests that status drives immune health, rather than vice-versa.
Changes in Monkeys' Social Status Affect Their Genes | Duke Today
The study is the first to use an experimental approach to observe how gene expression patterns across a range of genes correlate with an animal's social dominance. It estimates that gene expression can predict the social status of an individual with 80 percent accuracy.
"Our study supports the idea that low social status can be bad for the body. But it hints at the idea that if you improve your social situation, your health improves, too," said the study's lead author Jenny Tung, a visiting assistant professor in Duke University's evolutionary anthropology department.
[...]
Tung said scientists have more work to do to understand how improving social status affects the way genes turn on and off. But she found it "exciting" and "comforting" that her team observed positive changes in the expression of immune-system genes of several monkeys whose social rank increased, she said.
The Tung lab
Genes influence behavior; behavior influences genes.
The interplay between these effects is the focus of research in the Tung lab. Specifically, we are interested in how genetic differences and gene regulatory effects shape behavioral traits, and in the reciprocal influence of social and behavioral variation on genetic variation and genome function. To pursue these questions, we focus primarily on highly social populations of nonhuman primates, systems that are natural models for human health, sociality, and evolution.
Source: home
Research
Rhesus macaques in captivity present the opportunity to study social environmental effects on genetics and gene regulation in a controlled setting. We take advantage of the ability to manipulate social status and social group composition to isolate the influence of these variables and to study the regulatory mechanisms that mediate these effects.
Source: research
Related
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- Bullying doesn't just hurt your feelings - it can make you ill, say researchers | Mail Online
- Monkey genetics track social status : Nature News & Comment
- Social environment is associated with gene regulatory variation in the rhesus macaque immune system
