• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Baboon sexes differ in how social status gets 'under the skin'

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
December 17, 2018
in Biology
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Status-health connection depends, in part, on what it takes to get ahead

IMAGE

Credit: Photo by Elizabeth Archie, University of Notre Dame

DURHAM, N.C. — A growing body of evidence shows that those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are more likely to die prematurely than those at the top. The pattern isn’t unique to humans: Across many social animals, the lower an individual’s social status, the worse its health.

That’s probably proof that these gaps aren’t fully explained by risk factors commonly attributed to humans, such as smoking, drinking or access to medical care, says Jenny Tung, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University.

What’s trickier to determine is what causes what: Does the stress of low status make you sick? Or is it the other way around: does being sickly make it harder to get ahead and stay there?

New research by Tung, Princeton University’s Amanda Lea and colleagues suggests the answer depends, in part, on how the pecking order comes to be. The findings come from a study of 61 wild baboons in Kenya, where females ‘inherit’ their status, but males must fight their way to the top.

Having a high-ranking mom practically guarantees success later in life for baboon females, whereas males have to rely on their size, strength and battle skills to jockey for position and earn their place.

In a paper published December 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found strong links between status and how genes turn on and off in baboon males, but not females.

To be sure, status is linked to health and quality of life in both sexes: High-ranking females enjoy better access to resources like food and grooming than their low-ranking counterparts. And males who rise to the top and stay there generally have better mating success than those that don’t.

But when the researchers analyzed the animals’ immune cells for differences in gene activity, they identified more than 2,200 genes whose activity varied with status in males, but only 25 status-linked genes in females.

Genes related to inflammation were more active in high- than low-ranking males. But previous research in humans and macaque monkeys found the opposite pattern in females, whose status isn’t determined by fighting ability.

The best explanation, Lea said, is that the molecular signature of social status may depend in part on gender, but also on what it takes to climb the social ladder — family connections in the case of females, but strength in the case of males.

The research suggests that differences in immune gene expression may arise before male rank is established, and that a male’s eventual place in the hierarchy is a consequence of variation in gene expression, not a cause.

Males with more active immune genes may have an edge as they fight their way to the top, said Lea, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton and the study’s first author. The results are consistent with previous studies of Amboseli baboons showing that high-ranking males recover more quickly from illness and injury than other males.

For females, it may be that factors other than rank and status are more important for immune function, the authors say. It’s not that low-ranking females don’t experience the stress and strain of subordination, but thanks to a social support network of close kin, they may be better equipped to cope.

“Low-ranking females can buffer themselves in other ways, such as by cultivating strong social bonds with kin,” Lea said.

Social status and immune health are interconnected, Tung said. “But increasing evidence suggests that the nature of that relationship depends on whether an individual is male or female, and whether they have to fight for status or it’s given to them.”

###

Other authors of this study include Mercy Akinyi, Ruth Nyakundi, Peter Mareri, Fred Nyundo and Thomas Kariuki of the Institute of Primate Research in Kenya; Susan Alberts of Duke, and Elizabeth Archie of the University of Notre Dame.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF IOS 1456832, BCS-1455808), the National Institutes of Health (R01AG053330, R01HD088558, P01AG031719, R21-AG049936), the Leakey Foundation, the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (2016-IDG-1013).

CITATION: “Dominance Rank-Associated Gene Expression is Widespread, Sex-Specific, and a Precursor to High Social Status in Wild Male Baboons,” Amanda Lea, Mercy Akinyi, Ruth Nyakundi, Peter Mareri, Fred Nyundo, Thomas Kariuki, Susan Alberts, Elizabeth Archie, Jenny Tung. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 11, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811967115

Media Contact
Robin Ann Smith
[email protected]
919-225-6208

Original Source

https://today.duke.edu/2018/12/baboon-sexes-differ-how-social-status-gets-under-skin

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811967115

Tags: BiologyImmunology/Allergies/AsthmaMedicine/HealthPhysiologySocial/Behavioral ScienceSocioeconomicsZoology/Veterinary Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

CK2–PRC2 Signal Drives Plant Cold Memory Epigenetics

August 2, 2025
blank

AI-Driven Protein Design Advances T-Cell Immunotherapy Breakthroughs

August 1, 2025

Melanthiaceae Genomes Reveal Giant Genome Evolution Secrets

August 1, 2025

“Shore Wars: New Study Tackles Oyster-Mangrove Conflicts to Boost Coastal Restoration”

August 1, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Gut γδ T17 Cells Drive Brain Inflammation via STING

Agent-Based Framework for Assessing Environmental Exposures

MARCO Drives Myeloid Suppressor Cell Differentiation, Immunity

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.