Wikipedista:Eliška Miková/Trans-generational immune priming

Trans-generational immune priming (TGIP) describes the transfer of parental immunological experience to its progeny, which may help the survival of the offspring when challenged with the same pathogen. Similar mechanism of offspring protection against pathogens has been studied for a very long time in vertebrates, where the transfer of maternal antibodies helps the newborns immune system with infection before it can function properly on its own. In the last two decades TGIP in invertebrates was heavily studied.

Immune priming in invertebrates

Immune priming is memory-like phenomenon described in invertebrate taxa of animals. In vertebrates immune memory is based on adaptive immune cells called B and T lymphocytes, which provide a enhanced and faster immune response, when challenged with the same pathogen for a second time. Even though invertebrates only possess innate immunity, it has been described that they developed a similar mechanism. It is evolutionary advantageous for an organism to develop a better and faster secondary immune reponse to pathogen, which is harmful and which it is likely to be exposed again.