The increasing prevalence of emerging infectious diseases in human and animal populations worldwide underscores the need to understand better vertebrate immunology from ecological, evolutionary, and functional perspectives. However, most immunology research remains limited to a handful of model organisms with established research infrastructure.

Amphibians and reptiles remain especially understudied among vertebrates, yet they possess the same innate and acquired branches of the immune system that are the focus of avian and mammalian research. Thus, advancing herpetological immunology will improve our understanding of how the vertebrate immune system evolved and diversified, and how life history variation is associated with different types of immune function. These research advances have important implications for biodiversity, disease ecology, and population health.

The goal of this Research Topic is to advance herpetological immunology by providing a venue for novel research characterizing the diversity in structure and function of amphibian and reptile immune systems. The focus of this Topic is threefold:

1. Methodological (improving tools for studying amphibian and reptile immune systems),

2. Structural (comparative immunology unlocking knowledge of immune system variation among taxa)

3. Functional (understanding immune function in the context of disease, climate change, and other ecological parameters).

Emerging infectious diseases are particularly impacting amphibians and reptiles, including the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola that have decimated amphibian biodiversity and impacted snake populations, respectively. Understanding how immune system variation contributes to differences in pathogen susceptibility among amphibian and reptile hosts is thus an urgent area of herpetological research. Articles included in this Topic are likely to advance mechanistic knowledge of host-pathogen interactions, improve understanding of key immune functions in herpetological taxa, and aid in conservation and management efforts by providing mitigation strategies based on optimizing host immunity.

Topics should focus on amphibians and/or reptiles and may include (but are not limited to) the following: immunogenetics, immune system development, eco-immunology, disease ecology involving host immune systems, immune system genomic architecture, comparative immunology, extended immunity (i.e., microbiome/mucosome links to immunity), novel/optimized methods for measuring immune function, and experimental infection studies involving immune responses.

We especially encourage comparative studies focused on multiple taxonomic lineages and studies that provide methodological tools as a community resource for advancing immunology research in amphibians and reptiles. Manuscript types sought include original research, perspective articles, and commentaries.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Herpetological Immunology: Structure, Function, and Disease Implications