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Researchers calculated an organism’s fitness as a function of body temperature, revealing 36.7°C as the ideal body temperature. Fitness — designated W(T) above — represents the balance between the benefit of fighting of fungal pathogens and the energy costs of maintaining a higher body temperature.
Credit: A. Bergman & A. Casadevall/mBio 2010
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* Has the optimum body temperature of warm-blooded animals increased over time as fungi have evolved to tolerate higher temperatures? (I.E., does this spur an evolutionary "arms race" between fungi and mammals?)
* Is this optimum temperature universal (if so, why?) or is it different for birds than for mammals?
* Have reptiles, amphibians and other cold-blooded animals evolved different strategies for fighting fungal infection?
* Why would this have become a bigger factor following the K-T boundary extinction than before? The article seems to imply that the extinction event itself could have triggered a run-away explosion of fungi that suppressed the recovery of reptiles relative to mammals and birds. Is that the general idea?
* Does this help us understand the kinds of fungal infection that mammals are more prone to? E.G., Are fungi more likely to attack cooler parts of the body such as epidermis, extremities, toe nails : - ) etc?
* Does this strategy only help defend against fungal infection or is it defensive against bacterial infection as well?
* Was fever evolved as a defense against secondary fungal infection?
Good article. Very thought-provoking.
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