Relative maturity and immunity

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Although building on established concepts, i.e, genetic size scaling and metabolic age, bringing together these concepts to help explain the differences observed in a physiological event, such as development of immunity, is a novel way of looking at the subject. The outcome is that if the timing of immunity is governed by animals reaching an appropriate stage of development, i.e, circa 45% relative maturity, then this may help explain some of the differences in growth potential that have been observed in selection lines and breeds with different immune capabilities, this may help explain the correlation between saliva antibodies in lambs and better reproductive success as a hogget and associations between body reserves - namely fat and the associated production of adipocytokines and immune development. It implies also that simply modeling the effects of such selection solely on epidemiological changes alone may be over simplistic. More importantly, it highlights the importance of ensuring that any comparisons between animals may be better placed ensuring they are at a similar stage of development rather than simply at a similar chronological age.

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