Hello everyone,

I am having some trouble with a homework question for my immunolgy class. The question is " It has been demonstrated that mice with a mutation in Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) that differed from the normal TLR4 by a single amino acid were resistant to septic shock caused by fatal doses of gram-negative bacteria. Would this mutation be beneficial or detrimental to the individual with the mutation? Explain."

To me it seems that it would be beneficial because septic shock can kill. However, this seems too obvious and our professor never assigns questions that seem this obvious so im hesitant about the answer. Can anyone help me?

You should probably look at the pathways of TLR4 signalling and the question would include why is sepsis modulated, and what are the consequences thereof. Things to think about are why sepsis occurs, which pathways are involved. What would happen if these are changed under various conditions?