Constitutive and inducible fibrosis explain immune variation among threespine stickleback populations
. We combined a 46-lake immune survey with a common garden experiment using 20 representative populations to examine variation in fibrosis and infection. Laboratory assays included exposures to live tapeworms and immune challenges with tapeworm proteins and aluminum phosphate (Alum). We found heritable variation in both constitutive fibrosis and inducible fibrosis. Inducible responses to tapeworms were associated with lake environmental conditions, with fish from more eutrophic-like lakes showing stronger fibrosis induction than those from more oligotrophic-like lakes. Together, these results show how integrating wild immune variation with common garden experiments can reveal novel heritable defenses and link their evolution to ecological variation.
Authors
- Amanda K. Hund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7758-6757)
- Jesse N. Weber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4839-6684)
- Alex Yeung
- Ben A. Flanagan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0204-6139)
- Cole J. Wolf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5354-9169)
- A Albright
- J.U. Flanagan
- Ipsita Srinivas
- John Berini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4004-2358)
- Fahad Gilani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6741-5452)
- Emma Choi
- Peaches Cooper
- Gwen Casey
- Edith Reyes Contreras
- Luke Rippin
- Viola Watts
- Heather Alexander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7366-6984)
- Emma Redfield
- Panna Codner
- Amy Chen
- Shira Dubin
- Penelope Steffen
- Emma Polard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6376-7270)
- Jessica Hite (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4839-6684)
- Cate Patterson
- Mehreen Shahid
- Kaigula Rochon
- Caroline Szajada
- Daniel I Bolnick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3148-6296)
- Nataly Vargas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9195-2064)
- Grace Vaziri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4454-8003)
- Ana Santacruz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2673-1322)
Institutions
- Stowers Institute for Medical Research (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Carleton College (US)
- University of Victoria (CA)
- University of Münster (DE)
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-04-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.27.721125
- Primary Topic
- Invertebrate Immune Response Mechanisms
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health