Limiting opportunities for cheating stabilizes virulence in insect parasitic nematodes

Cooperative secretion of virulence factors by pathogens can lead to social conflict when cheating mutants exploit collective secretion, but do not contribute to it. If cheats outcompete cooperators within hosts, this can cause loss of virulence. Insect parasitic nematodes are important biocontrol tools that secrete a range of significant virulence factors. Critically, effective nematodes are hard to maintain without live passage, which can lead to virulence attenuation. Using experimental evolution, we tested whether social cheating might explain unstable virulence in the nematode Heterorhabditis floridensis by manipulating relatedness via multiplicity of infection (MOI), and the scale of competition. Passage at high MOI, which should reduce relatedness, led to loss of fitness: virulence and reproductive rate declined together and all eight independent lines suffered premature extinction. As theory predicts, relatedness treatments had more impact under stronger global competition. In contrast, low MOI passage led to more stable virulence and increased reproduction. Moreover, low MOI lineages showed a trade-off between virulence and reproduction, particularly for lines under stronger between-host competition. Overall, this study indicates that evolution of virulence theory is valuable for the culture of biocontrol agents: effective nematodes can be improved and maintained if passage methods mitigate possible social conflicts.

Novel genetic factors involved in resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis in Plutella xylostella

The widespread and sustainable exploitation of the entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in pest control is threatened by the evolution of resistance. Although resistance is often associated with loss of binding of the Bt toxins to the insect midgut cells, other factors have been implicated. Here we used suppressive subtractive hybridization and gene expression suppression to identify additional molecular components involved in Bt-resistance in Plutella xylostella. We isolated transcripts from genes that were differentially expressed in the midgut of larvae from a resistant population, following ingestion of a Bt kurstaki HD1 strain-based commercial formulation (DiPel), and compared with a genetically similar susceptible population. Quantitative real-time polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis confirmed the differential basal expression of a subset of these genes. Gene expression suppression of three of these genes (P. xylostella cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit associated protein 1-like 1, stromal cell-derived factor 2-like 1 and hatching enzyme-like 1) significantly increased the pathogenicity of HD1 to the resistant population. In an attempt to link the multitude of factors reportedly influencing resistance to Bt with the well-characterized loss of toxin binding, we also considered Bt-resistance models in P. xylostella and other insects.

Habitat use and sex-specific foraging behaviour of Adélie penguins throughout the breeding season in Adélie Land, East Antarctica

BACKGROUND

Marine predators are ecosystem sentinels because their foraging behaviour and reproductive success reflect the variability occurring in the lower trophic levels of the ecosystem. In an era of environmental change, monitoring top predators species can provide valuable insights into the zones of ecological importance that need to be protected. In this context, we monitored the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) as a bio-indicator near Dumont d'Urville, an area of the East Antarctic sector currently being considered for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA), using GPS-based tracking tags during the 2012/13 austral summer breeding season.

RESULTS

The habitat use and foraging areas of the penguins differed by breeding stage and sex and were strongly associated with patterns in bathymetry and sea-ice distribution. The first trips, undertaken during the incubation phase, were longer than those during the guard phase and were associated with the northern limit of the sea-ice extent. During the guard phase, birds strongly depended on access to a polynya, a key feature in Antarctic marine ecosystem, in the vicinity of the colony. The opening of the ice-free area was synchronous with the hatching of chicks. Moreover, a sex-specific use of foraging habitat observed only after hatching suggests sex-specific differences in the diet in response to intra-specific competition.

CONCLUSIONS

Sea-ice features that could be affected by the climate change were important factors for the use of foraging habitat by the Adélie penguins. The extent of the foraging area observed in this study is congruent with the area of the proposed MPA. However, both penguin behavior and their environment should be monitored carefully.

Application of a Bayesian nonparametric model to derive toxicity estimates based on the response of Antarctic microbial communities to fuel-contaminated soil

Ecotoxicology is primarily concerned with predicting the effects of toxic substances on the biological components of the ecosystem. In remote, high latitude environments such as Antarctica, where field work is logistically difficult and expensive, and where access to adequate numbers of soil invertebrates is limited and response times of biota are slow, appropriate modeling tools using microbial community responses can be valuable as an alternative to traditional single-species toxicity tests. In this study, we apply a Bayesian nonparametric model to a soil microbial data set acquired across a hydrocarbon contamination gradient at the site of a fuel spill in Antarctica. We model community change in terms of OTUs (operational taxonomic units) in response to a range of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations. The Shannon diversity of the microbial community, clustering of OTUs into groups with similar behavior with respect to TPH, and effective concentration values at level x, which represent the TPH concentration that causes x% change in the community, are presented. This model is broadly applicable to other complex data sets with similar data structure and inferential requirements on the response of communities to environmental parameters and stressors.

Making pathogens sociable: the [corrected] emergence of high relatedness through limited host invasibility

Cooperation depends upon high relatedness, the high genetic similarity of interacting partners relative to the wider population. For pathogenic bacteria, which show diverse cooperative traits, the population processes that determine relatedness are poorly understood. Here, we explore whether within-host dynamics can produce high relatedness in the insect pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. We study the effects of host/pathogen interactions on relatedness via a model of host invasion and fit parameters to competition experiments with marked strains. We show that invasibility is a key parameter for determining relatedness and experimentally demonstrate the emergence of high relatedness from well-mixed inocula. We find that a single infection cycle results in a bottleneck with a similar level of relatedness to those previously reported in the field. The bottlenecks that are a product of widespread barriers to infection can therefore produce the population structure required for the evolution of cooperative virulence.

Bacterial Cooperation Causes Systematic Errors in Pathogen Risk Assessment due to the Failure of the Independent Action Hypothesis

The Independent Action Hypothesis (IAH) states that pathogenic individuals (cells, spores, virus particles etc.) behave independently of each other, so that each has an independent probability of causing systemic infection or death. The IAH is not just of basic scientific interest; it forms the basis of our current estimates of infectious disease risk in humans. Despite the important role of the IAH in managing disease interventions for food and water-borne pathogens, experimental support for the IAH in bacterial pathogens is indirect at best. Moreover since the IAH was first proposed, cooperative behaviors have been discovered in a wide range of microorganisms, including many pathogens. A fundamental principle of cooperation is that the fitness of individuals is affected by the presence and behaviors of others, which is contrary to the assumption of independent action. In this paper, we test the IAH in Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t), a widely occurring insect pathogen that releases toxins that benefit others in the inoculum, infecting the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella. By experimentally separating B.t. spores from their toxins, we demonstrate that the IAH fails because there is an interaction between toxin and spore effects on mortality, where the toxin effect is synergistic and cannot be accommodated by independence assumptions. Finally, we show that applying recommended IAH dose-response models to high dose data leads to systematic overestimation of mortality risks at low doses, due to the presence of synergistic pathogen interactions. Our results show that cooperative secretions can easily invalidate the IAH, and that such mechanistic details should be incorporated into pathogen risk analysis.

Damage modeling and statistical analysis of optics damage performance in MJ-class laser systems

Modeling the lifetime of a fused silica optic is described for a multiple beam, MJ-class laser system. This entails combining optic processing data along with laser shot data to account for complete history of optic processing and shot exposure. Integrating with online inspection data allows for the construction of a performance metric to describe how an optic performs with respect to the model. This methodology helps to validate the damage model as well as allows strategic planning and identifying potential hidden parameters that are affecting the optic's performance.

A hierarchical classification of benthic biodiversity and assessment of protected areas in the Southern Ocean

An international effort is underway to establish a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean to help provide for the long-term conservation of marine biodiversity in the region. Important to this undertaking is knowledge of the distribution of benthic assemblages. Here, our aim is to identify the areas where benthic marine assemblages are likely to differ from each other in the Southern Ocean including near-shore Antarctica. We achieve this by using a hierarchical spatial classification of ecoregions, bathomes and environmental types. Ecoregions are defined according to available data on biogeographic patterns and environmental drivers on dispersal. Bathomes are identified according to depth strata defined by species distributions. Environmental types are uniquely classified according to the geomorphic features found within the bathomes in each ecoregion. We identified 23 ecoregions and nine bathomes. From a set of 28 types of geomorphic features of the seabed, 562 unique environmental types were classified for the Southern Ocean. We applied the environmental types as surrogates of different assemblages of biodiversity to assess the representativeness of existing MPAs. We found that 12 ecoregions are not represented in MPAs and that no ecoregion has their full range of environmental types represented in MPAs. Current MPA planning processes, if implemented, will substantially increase the representation of environmental types particularly within 8 ecoregions. To meet internationally agreed conservation goals, additional MPAs will be needed. To assist with this process, we identified 107 spatially restricted environmental types, which should be considered for inclusion in future MPAs. Detailed supplementary data including a spatial dataset are provided.

Strong oviposition preference for Bt over non-Bt maize in Spodoptera frugiperda and its implications for the evolution of resistance

BACKGROUND

Transgenic crops expressing Bt toxins have substantial benefits for growers in terms of reduced synthetic insecticide inputs, area-wide pest management and yield. This valuable technology depends upon delaying the evolution of resistance. The 'high dose/refuge strategy', in which a refuge of non-Bt plants is planted in close proximity to the Bt crop, is the foundation of most existing resistance management. Most theoretical analyses of the high dose/refuge strategy assume random oviposition across refugia and Bt crops.

RESULTS

In this study we examined oviposition and survival of Spodoptera frugiperda across conventional and Bt maize and explored the impact of oviposition behavior on the evolution of resistance in simulation models. Over six growing seasons oviposition rates per plant were higher in Bt crops than in refugia. The Cry1F Bt maize variety retained largely undamaged leaves, and oviposition preference was correlated with the level of feeding damage in the refuge. In simulation models, damage-avoiding oviposition accelerated the evolution of resistance and either led to requirements for larger refugia or undermined resistance management altogether. Since larval densities affected oviposition preferences, pest population dynamics affected resistance evolution: larger refugia were weakly beneficial for resistance management if they increased pest population sizes and the concomitant degree of leaf damage.

CONCLUSIONS

Damaged host plants have reduced attractiveness to many insect pests, and crops expressing Bt toxins are generally less damaged than conventional counterparts. Resistance management strategies should take account of this behavior, as it has the potential to undermine the effectiveness of existing practice, especially in the tropics where many pests are polyvoltinous. Efforts to bring down total pest population sizes and/or increase the attractiveness of damaged conventional plants will have substantial benefits for slowing the evolution of resistance.

Light-driven tipping points in polar ecosystems

Some ecosystems can undergo abrupt transformation in response to relatively small environmental change. Identifying imminent 'tipping points' is crucial for biodiversity conservation, particularly in the face of climate change. Here, we describe a tipping point mechanism likely to induce widespread regime shifts in polar ecosystems. Seasonal snow and ice-cover periodically block sunlight reaching polar ecosystems, but the effect of this on annual light depends critically on the timing of cover within the annual solar cycle. At high latitudes, sunlight is strongly seasonal, and ice-free days around the summer solstice receive orders of magnitude more light than those in winter. Early melt that brings the date of ice-loss closer to midsummer will cause an exponential increase in the amount of sunlight reaching some ecosystems per year. This is likely to drive ecological tipping points in which primary producers (plants and algae) flourish and out-compete dark-adapted communities. We demonstrate this principle on Antarctic shallow seabed ecosystems, which our data suggest are sensitive to small changes in the timing of sea-ice loss. Algae respond to light thresholds that are easily exceeded by a slight reduction in sea-ice duration. Earlier sea-ice loss is likely to cause extensive regime shifts in which endemic shallow-water invertebrate communities are replaced by algae, reducing coastal biodiversity and fundamentally changing ecosystem functioning. Modeling shows that recent changes in ice and snow cover have already transformed annual light budgets in large areas of the Arctic and Antarctic, and both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are likely to experience further significant change in light. The interaction between ice-loss and solar irradiance renders polar ecosystems acutely vulnerable to abrupt ecosystem change, as light-driven tipping points are readily breached by relatively slight shifts in the timing of snow and ice-loss.

The impact of strain diversity and mixed infections on the evolution of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis

Pesticide mixtures can reduce the rate at which insects evolve pesticide resistance. However, with live biopesticides such as the naturally abundant pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a range of additional biological considerations might affect the evolution of resistance. These can include ecological interactions in mixed infections, the different rates of transmission post-application and the impact of the native biodiversity on the frequency of mixed infections. Using multi-generation selection experiments, we tested how applications of single and mixed strains of Bt from diverse sources (natural isolates and biopesticides) affected the evolution of resistance in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, to a focal strain. There was no significant difference in the rate of evolution of resistance between single and mixed-strain applications although the latter did result in lower insect populations. The relative survivorship of Bt-resistant genotypes was higher in the mixed-strain treatment, in part owing to elevated mortality of susceptible larvae in mixtures. Resistance evolved more quickly with treatments that contained natural isolates, and biological differences in transmission rate may have contributed to this. Our data indicate that the use of mixtures can have unexpected consequences on the fitness of resistant and susceptible insects.

Testing paradigms of ecosystem change under climate warming in Antarctica

Antarctic marine ecosystems have undergone significant changes as a result of human activities in the past and are now responding in varied and often complicated ways to climate change impacts. Recent years have seen the emergence of large-scale mechanistic explanations–or “paradigms of change”–that attempt to synthesize our understanding of past and current changes. In many cases, these paradigms are based on observations that are spatially and temporally patchy. The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), one of Earth’s most rapidly changing regions, has been an area of particular research focus. A recently proposed mechanistic explanation for observed changes in the WAP region relates changes in penguin populations to variability in krill biomass and regional warming. While this scheme is attractive for its simplicity and chronology, it may not account for complex spatio-temporal processes that drive ecosystem dynamics in the region. It might also be difficult to apply to other Antarctic regions that are experiencing some, though not all, of the changes documented for the WAP. We use qualitative network models of differing levels of complexity to test paradigms of change for the WAP ecosystem. Importantly, our approach captures the emergent effects of feedback processes in complex ecological networks and provides a means to identify and incorporate uncertain linkages between network elements. Our findings highlight key areas of uncertainty in the drivers of documented trends, and suggest that a greater level of model complexity is needed in devising explanations for ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean. We suggest that our network approach to evaluating a recent and widely cited paradigm of change for the Antarctic region could be broadly applied in hypothesis testing for other regions and research fields.

The dynamics of cooperative bacterial virulence in the field

Laboratory experiments have shown that the fitness of microorganisms can depend on cooperation between cells. Although this insight has revolutionized our understanding of microbial life, results from artificial microcosms have not been validated in complex natural populations. We investigated the sociality of essential virulence factors (crystal toxins) in the pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis using diamondback moth larvae (Plutella xylostella) as hosts. We show that toxin production is cooperative, and in a manipulative field experiment, we observed persistent high relatedness and frequency- and density-dependent selection, which favor stable cooperation. Conditions favoring social virulence can therefore persist in the face of natural population processes, and social interactions (rapid cheat invasion) may account for the rarity of natural disease outbreaks caused by B. thuringiensis.