In birds, the temperature at which eggs are incubated shapes many aspects of hatchling phenotype, but long-term effects are less studied. We studied the effect of incubation temperature and pattern on the subsequent development of innate immune function in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). We incubated quail eggs in one of three replicated treatments: control (37.5°C), low (36.0°C), and cyclical incubation. The cyclical treatment had the same average temperature as the low-temperature treatment (36.0°C) and an upper temperature that was the same as the control. When individuals were 5, 20, and 55 d of age (i.e., adults), we measured the ability of blood plasma to kill Escherichia coli. Throughout development there was a nonsignificant trend for immune function to be lower in the cycling treatment. In adulthood, however, individuals incubated at cycling temperatures had significantly lower immune function than control birds but did not differ from individuals incubated at constant low temperatures. Males and females responded similarly to the incubation treatment, but females developed a greater plasma bactericidal ability than males. We conclude that variation in innate immune function of adult birds is shaped by temperature fluctuations experienced during incubation.

中文翻译：

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禽胚暴露于循环孵育温度下会降低成虫的杀菌能力。

在禽类中，卵的孵化温度会影响孵化表型的许多方面，但对长期影响的研究较少。我们研究了孵化温度和模式对日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）先天免疫功能随后发展的影响。我们在三种重复处理方法之一中孵育鹌鹑蛋：对照（37.5°C），低温（36.0°C）和周期性孵育。循环处理的平均温度与低温处理（36.0℃）相同，并且最高温度与对照相同。当个体分别为5、20和55 d（即成年人）年龄时，我们测量了血浆杀死大肠杆菌的能力。在整个开发过程中，自行车治疗中免疫功能降低的趋势不明显。但是，在成年时期 在循环温度下孵育的个体的免疫功能明显低于对照鸟类，但与在恒定低温下孵育的个体没有区别。雄性和雌性对孵化处理的反应相似，但是雌性比雄性具有更高的血浆杀菌能力。我们得出的结论是，成年鸟类先天免疫功能的变化是受孵化过程中温度波动的影响。