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Veríssimo SN, Cunha SC, Fernandes JO, Casero M, Ramos JA, Norte AC, Paiva VH. Dynamics and effects of plastic contaminants' assimilation in gulls. MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 196:106396. [PMID: 38341982 DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/13/2024]
Abstract
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are persistent disrupters assimilated by organisms, yet little is known about their link to plastic ingestion and health effects. In an experiment, two groups of yellow-legged/lesser black-backed gulls (Larus michahellis/Larus fuscus) were fed plastics with BDE99 to assess leaching into brain, preen oil, liver and fat tissues and evaluate effects on health and stress parameters. Although most plastic was regurgitated, we observed a clear relation between plastic ingestion and chemical leaching. BDE99 exhibited higher levels in brain tissue of gulls from the plastic groups. Also, only values of cholinesterases measured in plasma were significantly reduced in the 'plastic' groups. Cholinesterase activity in the brain also tended to decrease, suggesting a negative effect in gulls' neurofunction. Results indicate that chemical leaching occurs, even when plastics stay in the stomach for a short period of time and showed that this can affect gulls' health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara N Veríssimo
- University of Coimbra, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre / ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - Sara C Cunha
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge de Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal
| | - José O Fernandes
- LAQV-REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge de Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal
| | - María Casero
- Wildlife Rehabilitation and Investigation Center (RIAS) - Associação ALDEIA, Ria Formosa Natural Park, Olhão, Portugal
| | - Jaime A Ramos
- University of Coimbra, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre / ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Ana C Norte
- University of Coimbra, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre / ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Vitor H Paiva
- University of Coimbra, MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre / ARNET - Aquatic Research Network, Department of Life Sciences, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
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Šujanová A, Čužiová Z, Václav R. The Infection Rate of Bird-Feeding Ixodes ricinus Ticks with Borrelia garinii and B. valaisiana Varies with Host Haemosporidian Infection Status. Microorganisms 2022; 11:microorganisms11010060. [PMID: 36677352 PMCID: PMC9861293 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11010060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Birds are known to maintain and spread human pathogenic borreliae, but they are common hosts of diverse parasite communities, notably haemosporidians. Only a few studies examined whether tick infestation and/or Borrelia prevalences vary with hosts' haemosporidian infection status. METHODS Here, we study whether Ixodes ricinus infestation rates and Borrelia infection rates in bird-feeding ticks vary according to haemosporidian infection status in a community of free-living avian tick hosts. RESULTS Birds of six avian species harbored the majority of ticks. Both the tick infestation prevalence and the intensity peaked during spring and summer, but while bird-feeding nymphs prevailed in spring, bird-feeding larvae dominated in summer. Almost half of the bird-feeding ticks were found to be positive for B. burgdorferi s.l. Although the majority of infections involved bird-associated B. garinii and B. valaisiana, B. garinii appears to be the dominant Borrelia strain circulating in locally breeding avian species. We detected a negative link between the hosts' haemosporidian infection status and the Borrelia infection rate of bird-feeding ticks, but the association was dependent on the host's age. CONCLUSIONS Our results on tick infestation intensity support the idea that more immunologically vulnerable hosts harbor more ticks but suggest that different mechanisms may be responsible for tick infestation rates among immunologically naïve and experienced avian hosts. The results on Borrelia infection rates in bird-feeding ticks are consistent with studies revealing that intracellular parasites, such as haemosporidians, can benefit from the host immune system prioritizing immune responses against extracellular parasites at the expense of immune responses against intracellular parasites. The findings of our study urge for a more robust design of parasitological studies to understand the ecology of interactions among hosts and their parasites.
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Costantini D. A meta-analysis of impacts of immune response and infection on oxidative status in vertebrates. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2022; 10:coac018. [PMID: 35492421 PMCID: PMC9040321 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coac018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Inferring from patterns observed in biomedical research, ecoimmunological theory predicts that oxidative stress is a ubiquitous physiological cost that contributes to generating variation in immune function between individuals or species. This prediction is, however, often challenged by empirical studies testing the relationship between immune response or infection and oxidative status markers. This points out the importance of combining ecological immunology and oxidative stress ecology to further our understanding of the proximate causes and fitness consequences of individual variation in health, and adaptability to natural and anthropogenic environmental changes. I reviewed evidence and performed phylogenetic meta-analyses of changes in oxidative status markers owing to either injection of an antigen or infection in captive and free-living vertebrates (141 studies, 1262 effect sizes, 97 species). The dataset was dominated by studies on fish, birds and mammals, which provided 95.8% of effect sizes. Both antigen injection and parasite exposure were associated with changes of oxidative status. There were significant effects of taxonomic class and experimental environment (captivity vs. wild). In contrast with my predictions, age category (young vs. adult), study design (correlational vs. experimental) and proxies of pace of life (clutch size, litter size, and body mass; for birds and mammals only) were negligible in this dataset. Several methodological aspects (type of immunostimulant, laboratory assay, tissue analysed) showed significant effects on both strength and direction of effect. My results suggest that alterations of oxidative status are a widespread consequence of immune function across vertebrates. However, this work also identified heterogeneity in strength and direction of effect sizes, which suggests that immune function does not necessarily result in oxidative stress. Finally, this work identifies methodological caveats that might be relevant for the interpretation and comparability of results and for the application in conservation programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Costantini
- Unité Physiologie Moléculaire et Adaptation, UMR 7221, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, CP32, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France
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Norte AC, Araújo PM, Augusto L, Guímaro H, Santos S, Lopes RJ, Núncio MS, Ramos JA, Lopes de Carvalho I. Effects of stress exposure in captivity on physiology and infection in avian hosts: no evidence of increased Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infectivity to vector ticks. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2022; 83:202-215. [PMID: 33758979 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-021-01738-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Exposure to environmental stressors, an increasingly recurring event in natural communities due to anthropogenic-induced environmental change, profoundly impacts disease emergence and spread. One mechanism through which this occurs is through stress-induced immunosuppression increasing disease susceptibility, prevalence, intensity and reactivation in hosts. We experimentally evaluated how exposure to stressors affected both the physiology of avian hosts and the prevalence of the zoonotic bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), in two model species-the blackbird Turdus merula and the robin Erithacus rubecula captured in the wild, using xenodiagnoses and analysis of skin biopsies and blood. Although exposure to stressors in captivity induced physiological stress in birds (increased the number of circulating heterophils), there was no evidence of increased infectivity to xenodiagnostic ticks. However, Borrelia detection in the blood for both experimental groups of blackbirds was higher by the end of the captivity period. The infectivity and efficiency of transmission were higher for blackbirds than robins. When comparing different methodologies to determine infection status, xenodiagnosis was a more sensitive method than skin biopsies and blood samples, which could be attributed to mild levels of infection in these avian hosts and/or dynamics and timing of Borrelia infection relapses and redistribution in tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- A C Norte
- Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal.
- Centre for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - P M Araújo
- Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - L Augusto
- Centre for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
| | - H Guímaro
- Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - S Santos
- Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - R J Lopes
- Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - M S Núncio
- Centre for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - J A Ramos
- Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - I Lopes de Carvalho
- Centre for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
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Role of Food Antioxidants in Modulating Gut Microbial Communities: Novel Understandings in Intestinal Oxidative Stress Damage and Their Impact on Host Health. Antioxidants (Basel) 2021; 10:antiox10101563. [PMID: 34679698 PMCID: PMC8533511 DOI: 10.3390/antiox10101563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Dietary components have an important role on the structure and function of host gut microbial communities. Even though, various dietary components, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fibers, and vitamins, have been studied in depth for their effect on gut microbiomes, little attention has been paid regarding the impact of several food antioxidants on the gut microbiome. The long-term exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause microbial dysbiosis which leads to numerous intestinal diseases such as microbiota dysbiosis, intestinal injury, colorectal cancers, enteric infections, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Recently, it has been shown that the food derived antioxidant compounds might protect the host from intestinal oxidative stress via modulating the composition of beneficial microbial species in the gut. The present review summarizes the impact of food antioxidants including antioxidant vitamins, dietary polyphenols, carotenoids, and bioactive peptides on the structure as well as function of host gut microbial communities. Several in vitro, animal model, and clinical studies indicates that food antioxidants might modify the host gut microbial communities and their health status. However, still further clarification is needed as to whether changes in certain microbial species caused by food additives may lead to changes in metabolism and immune function.
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Hart TM, Dupuis AP, Tufts DM, Blom AM, Starkey SR, Rego ROM, Ram S, Kraiczy P, Kramer LD, Diuk-Wasser MA, Kolokotronis SO, Lin YP. Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system. PLoS Pathog 2021; 17:e1009801. [PMID: 34324600 PMCID: PMC8354441 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Pathogens possess the ability to adapt and survive in some host species but not in others-an ecological trait known as host tropism. Transmitted through ticks and carried mainly by mammals and birds, the Lyme disease (LD) bacterium is a well-suited model to study such tropism. Three main causative agents of LD, Borrelia burgdorferi, B. afzelii, and B. garinii, vary in host ranges through mechanisms eluding characterization. By feeding ticks infected with different Borrelia species, utilizing feeding chambers and live mice and quail, we found species-level differences in bacterial transmission. These differences localize on the tick blood meal, and specifically complement, a defense in vertebrate blood, and a polymorphic bacterial protein, CspA, which inactivates complement by binding to a host complement inhibitor, Factor H (FH). CspA selectively confers bacterial transmission to vertebrates that produce FH capable of allele-specific recognition. CspA is the only member of the Pfam54 gene family to exhibit host-specific FH-binding. Phylogenetic analyses revealed convergent evolution as the driver of such uniqueness, and that FH-binding likely emerged during the last glacial maximum. Our results identify a determinant of host tropism in Lyme disease infection, thus defining an evolutionary mechanism that shapes host-pathogen associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas M. Hart
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America
- Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, United States of America
| | - Alan P. Dupuis
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America
| | - Danielle M. Tufts
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Anna M. Blom
- Division of Medical Protein Chemistry, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmo, Sweden
| | - Simon R. Starkey
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America
| | - Ryan O. M. Rego
- Institute of Parasitology, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Sanjay Ram
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Peter Kraiczy
- Institute of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, University Hospital of Frankfurt, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Laura D. Kramer
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, United States of America
| | - Maria A. Diuk-Wasser
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Sergios-Orestis Kolokotronis
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
- Institute for Genomic Health, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America
| | - Yi-Pin Lin
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York, United States of America
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McGraw KJ, Chou K, Bridge A, McGraw HC, McGraw PR, Simpson RK. Body condition and poxvirus infection predict circulating glucose levels in a colorful songbird that inhabits urban and rural environments. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART 2020; 333:561-568. [PMID: 32515908 DOI: 10.1002/jez.2391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
There is widespread contemporary interest in causes and consequences of blood glucose status in humans (e.g., links to diabetes and cardiovascular disease), but we know comparatively less about what underlies variation in glucose levels of wild animals. Several environmental factors, including diet, disease status, and habitat quality, may regulate glucose circulation, and we are in need of work that assesses many organismal traits simultaneously to understand the plasticity and predictability of glucose levels in ecological and evolutionary contexts. Here, we measured circulating glucose levels in a species of passerine bird (the house finch, Haemorhous mexicanus) that has served as a valuable model for research on sexual selection, disease, and urban behavioral ecology, as these animals display sexually dichromatic ornamental coloration, harbor many infectious diseases (e.g., poxvirus, coccidiosis, mycoplasmal conjunctivitis), and reside in both natural habitats and cities. We tested the effects of sex, habitat type, body condition, coccidiosis and poxvirus infections, and expression of carotenoid plumage coloration on blood glucose concentrations and found that the body condition and poxvirus infection significantly predicted circulating glucose levels. Specifically, birds with higher blood glucose levels had higher body condition scores and were infected with poxvirus. This result is consistent with biomedical, domesticated-animal, and wildlife-rehabilitation findings, and the premise that glucose elevation is a physiological response to or indicator of infection and relative body weight. The fact that we failed to find links between glucose and our other measurements suggests that blood glucose levels can reveal some but not all aspects of organismal or environmental quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin J McGraw
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Katherine Chou
- Science and Engineering Experience (SCENE) program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Annika Bridge
- Science and Engineering Experience (SCENE) program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Hannah C McGraw
- Science and Engineering Experience (SCENE) program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Peyton R McGraw
- Science and Engineering Experience (SCENE) program, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Richard K Simpson
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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Norte AC, Lopes de Carvalho I, Núncio MS, Araújo PM, Matthysen E, Albino Ramos J, Sprong H, Heylen D. Getting under the birds' skin: tissue tropism of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in naturally and experimentally infected avian hosts. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2020; 79:756-769. [PMID: 31612324 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-019-01442-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Wild birds are frequently exposed to the zoonotic tick-borne bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), and some bird species act as reservoirs for some Borrelia genospecies. Studying the tropism of Borrelia in the host, how it is sequestered in different organs, and whether it is maintained in circulation and/or in the host's skin is important to understand pathogenicity, infectivity to vector ticks and reservoir competency.We evaluated tissue dissemination of Borrelia in blackbirds (Turdus merula) and great tits (Parus major), naturally and experimentally infected with Borrelia genospecies from enzootic foci. We collected both minimally invasive biological samples (feathers, skin biopsies and blood) and skin, joint, brain and visceral tissues from necropsied birds. Infectiousness of the host was evaluated through xenodiagnoses and infection rates in fed and moulted ticks. Skin biopsies were the most reliable method for assessing avian hosts' Borrelia infectiousness, which was supported by the agreement of infection status results obtained from the analysis of chin and lore skin samples from necropsied birds and of their xenodiagnostic ticks, including a significant correlation between the estimated concentration of Borrelia genome copies in the skin and the Borrelia infection rate in the xenodiagnostic ticks. This confirms a dermatropism of Borrelia garinii, B. valaisiana and B. turdi in its avian hosts. However, time elapsed from exposure to Borrelia and interaction between host species and Borrelia genospecies may affect the reliability of skin biopsies. The blood was not useful to assess infectiousness of birds, even during the period of expected maximum spirochetaemia. From the tissues sampled (foot joint, liver, spleen, heart, kidney, gut and brain), Borrelia was detected only in the gut, which could be related with infection mode, genospecies competition, genospecies-specific seasonality and/or excretion processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Cláudia Norte
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3004-517, Coimbra, Portugal.
- Centre for Vectors and Infectious Diseases Dr. Francisco Cambournac, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - Isabel Lopes de Carvalho
- Centre for Vectors and Infectious Diseases Dr. Francisco Cambournac, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Maria Sofia Núncio
- Centre for Vectors and Infectious Diseases Dr. Francisco Cambournac, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Pedro Miguel Araújo
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3004-517, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Erik Matthysen
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Jaime Albino Ramos
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3004-517, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Hein Sprong
- Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb), vhNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands
| | - Dieter Heylen
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
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Cayol C, Giermek A, Gomez-Chamorro A, Hytönen J, Kallio ER, Mappes T, Salo J, Voordouw MJ, Koskela E. Borrelia afzelii alters reproductive success in a rodent host. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:20181056. [PMID: 30068677 PMCID: PMC6111163 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The impact of a pathogen on the fitness and behaviour of its natural host depends upon the host-parasite relationship in a given set of environmental conditions. Here, we experimentally investigated the effects of Borrelia afzelii, one of the aetiological agents of Lyme disease in humans, on the fitness of its natural rodent host, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus), in semi-natural conditions with two contrasting host population densities. Our results show that B. afzelii can modify the reproductive success and spacing behaviour of its rodent host, whereas host survival was not affected. Infection impaired the breeding probability of large bank voles. Reproduction was hastened in infected females without alteration of the offspring size at birth. At low density, infected males produced fewer offspring, fertilized fewer females and had lower mobility than uninfected individuals. Meanwhile, the infection did not affect the proportion of offspring produced or the proportion of mating partner in female bank voles. Our study is the first to show that B. afzelii infection alters the reproductive success of the natural host. The effects observed could reflect the sickness behaviour due to the infection or they could be a consequence of a manipulation of the host behaviour by the bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Cayol
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Anna Giermek
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Cracow, Poland
| | - Andrea Gomez-Chamorro
- Institut de Biologie, Laboratoire d'Ecologie et Evolution des Parasites, Université de Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Jukka Hytönen
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520, Turku, Finland
| | - Eva Riikka Kallio
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, PO Box 3000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Tapio Mappes
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Jemiina Salo
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 13, 20520, Turku, Finland
| | - Maarten Jeroen Voordouw
- Institut de Biologie, Laboratoire d'Ecologie et Evolution des Parasites, Université de Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Esa Koskela
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, PO Box 35, 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
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