Meerkats
I study the impact of social status on immune gene expression in a social carnivore, meerkats.
My results suggest that the gene expression profile of female meerkats is, like male baboons, shaped by how they attain and maintain dominance.
Meerkats are a social carnivore that lives in family groups with a dominant breeding pair. Pups born to the breeding pair are raised collectively by the group which largely consists of related female and unrelated male meerkats. Non-dominant females who become pregnant are evicted by the dominant female.
Meerkats represent a novel test of the impact of social environment on gene expression, as it is the females of the species who physically compete to achieve dominance. Meerkats also represent the first research into the impact of social environment into a carnivore, previous work has largely been conducted in primates and rodents.
