1
|
de Vries EM, Cogan NOI, Gubala AJ, Rodoni BC, Lynch SE. Fine-scale genomic tracking of Ross River virus using nanopore sequencing. Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:186. [PMID: 37280650 PMCID: PMC10243270 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05734-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ross River virus (RRV) is Australia's most common and widespread mosquito-transmitted arbovirus and is of significant public health concern. With increasing anthropogenic impacts on wildlife and mosquito populations, it is important that we understand how RRV circulates in its endemic hotspots to determine where public health efforts should be directed. Current surveillance methods are effective in locating the virus but do not provide data on the circulation of the virus and its strains within the environment. This study examined the ability to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the variable E2/E3 region by generating full-length haplotypes from a range of mosquito trap-derived samples. METHODS A novel tiled primer amplification workflow for amplifying RRV was developed with analysis using Oxford Nanopore Technology's MinION and a custom ARTIC/InterARTIC bioinformatic protocol. By creating a range of amplicons across the whole genome, fine-scale SNP analysis was enabled by specifically targeting the variable region that was amplified as a single fragment and established haplotypes that informed spatial-temporal variation of RRV in the study site in Victoria. RESULTS A bioinformatic and laboratory pipeline was successfully designed and implemented on mosquito whole trap homogenates. Resulting data showed that genotyping could be conducted in real time and that whole trap consensus of the viruses (with major SNPs) could be determined in a timely manner. Minor variants were successfully detected from the variable E2/E3 region of RRV, which allowed haplotype determination within complex mosquito homogenate samples. CONCLUSIONS The novel bioinformatic and wet laboratory methods developed here will enable fast detection and characterisation of RRV isolates. The concepts presented in this body of work are transferable to other viruses that exist as quasispecies in samples. The ability to detect minor SNPs, and thus haplotype strains, is critically important for understanding the epidemiology of viruses their natural environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ellen M. de Vries
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
| | - Noel O. I. Cogan
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
| | - Aneta J. Gubala
- Sensors and Effectors Division, Defence Science & Technology Group, Fishermans Bend, VIC 3207 Australia
| | - Brendan C. Rodoni
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
- School of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
| | - Stacey E. Lynch
- Agriculture Victoria, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC 3083 Australia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Herst CV, Burkholz S, Sidney J, Sette A, Harris PE, Massey S, Brasel T, Cunha-Neto E, Rosa DS, Chao WCH, Carback R, Hodge T, Wang L, Ciotlos S, Lloyd P, Rubsamen R. An effective CTL peptide vaccine for Ebola Zaire Based on Survivors' CD8+ targeting of a particular nucleocapsid protein epitope with potential implications for COVID-19 vaccine design. Vaccine 2020; 38:4464-4475. [PMID: 32418793 PMCID: PMC7186210 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.04.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 04/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The 2013-2016 West Africa EBOV epidemic was the biggest EBOV outbreak to date. An analysis of virus-specific CD8+ T-cell immunity in 30 survivors showed that 26 of those individuals had a CD8+ response to at least one EBOV protein. The dominant response (25/26 subjects) was specific to the EBOV nucleocapsid protein (NP). It has been suggested that epitopes on the EBOV NP could form an important part of an effective T-cell vaccine for Ebola Zaire. We show that a 9-amino-acid peptide NP44-52 (YQVNNLEEI) located in a conserved region of EBOV NP provides protection against morbidity and mortality after mouse adapted EBOV challenge. A single vaccination in a C57BL/6 mouse using an adjuvanted microsphere peptide vaccine formulation containing NP44-52 is enough to confer immunity in mice. Our work suggests that a peptide vaccine based on CD8+ T-cell immunity in EBOV survivors is conceptually sound and feasible. Nucleocapsid proteins within SARS-CoV-2 contain multiple Class I epitopes with predicted HLA restrictions consistent with broad population coverage. A similar approach to a CTL vaccine design may be possible for that virus.
Collapse
MESH Headings
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- COVID-19
- COVID-19 Vaccines
- Coronavirus Infections/immunology
- Coronavirus Infections/prevention & control
- Disease Models, Animal
- Drug Design
- Ebola Vaccines/chemistry
- Ebola Vaccines/immunology
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/chemistry
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/immunology
- Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/immunology
- Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola/prevention & control
- Humans
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Nucleocapsid Proteins/chemistry
- Nucleocapsid Proteins/immunology
- Pandemics/prevention & control
- Pneumonia, Viral/immunology
- Pneumonia, Viral/prevention & control
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology
- Vaccines, Subunit/chemistry
- Vaccines, Subunit/immunology
- Viral Vaccines/chemistry
- Viral Vaccines/immunology
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- C V Herst
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - S Burkholz
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - J Sidney
- La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 9420 Athena Circle La Jolla, CA 92037, United States
| | - A Sette
- La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, 9420 Athena Circle La Jolla, CA 92037, United States
| | - P E Harris
- Endocrinology Division, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - S Massey
- University of Texas, Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX 77555, United States
| | - T Brasel
- University of Texas, Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX 77555, United States
| | - E Cunha-Neto
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Allergy-LIM60, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, Brazil; Institute for Investigation in Immunology (iii) INCT, São Paulo, Brazil; Heart Institute (Incor), School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - D S Rosa
- Institute for Investigation in Immunology (iii) INCT, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP/EPM), São Paulo, Brazil
| | - W C H Chao
- University of Macau, E12 Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China
| | - R Carback
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - T Hodge
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - L Wang
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - S Ciotlos
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - P Lloyd
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States
| | - R Rubsamen
- Flow Pharma, Inc., 3451 Vincent Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, United States; Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Georgieva M, Buckee CO, Lipsitch M. Models of immune selection for multi-locus antigenic diversity of pathogens. Nat Rev Immunol 2019; 19:55-62. [PMID: 30479379 DOI: 10.1038/s41577-018-0092-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
It is well accepted that pathogens can evade recognition and elimination by the host immune system by varying their antigenic targets. Thus, it has become a truism that host immunity is a major driver and determinant of the antigenic diversity of pathogens. However, it remains puzzling how host immunity selects for antigenic diversity at the level of the pathogen population, given that hosts have acquired immune responses to multiple antigens of most pathogens - sometimes through multiple effectors of both humoral and cellular immunity. In this Opinion article, we address this puzzle and the related question of why pathogens often have diversity at multiple antigenic loci. Here, we describe five hypotheses to explain the polymorphism of multiple antigens in a single pathogen species and highlight research relevant to our current models of thinking about multi-locus antigenic diversity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Georgieva
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. .,Department of Physiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Caroline O Buckee
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Marc Lipsitch
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Kennedy DA, Read AF. Why does drug resistance readily evolve but vaccine resistance does not? Proc Biol Sci 2018; 284:rspb.2016.2562. [PMID: 28356449 PMCID: PMC5378080 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 02/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Why is drug resistance common and vaccine resistance rare? Drugs and vaccines both impose substantial pressure on pathogen populations to evolve resistance and indeed, drug resistance typically emerges soon after the introduction of a drug. But vaccine resistance has only rarely emerged. Using well-established principles of population genetics and evolutionary ecology, we argue that two key differences between vaccines and drugs explain why vaccines have so far proved more robust against evolution than drugs. First, vaccines tend to work prophylactically while drugs tend to work therapeutically. Second, vaccines tend to induce immune responses against multiple targets on a pathogen while drugs tend to target very few. Consequently, pathogen populations generate less variation for vaccine resistance than they do for drug resistance, and selection has fewer opportunities to act on that variation. When vaccine resistance has evolved, these generalities have been violated. With careful forethought, it may be possible to identify vaccines at risk of failure even before they are introduced.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David A Kennedy
- Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Departments of Biology and Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Andrew F Read
- Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Departments of Biology and Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
The Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 antigens that are inserted onto the surface of P. falciparum infected erythrocytes play a key role both in the pathology of severe malaria and as targets of naturally acquired immunity. They might be considered unlikely vaccine targets because they are extremely diverse. However, several lines of evidence suggest that underneath this molecular diversity there are a restricted set of epitopes which may act as effective targets for a vaccine against severe malaria. Here we review some of the recent developments in this area of research, focusing on work that has assessed the potential of these molecules as possible vaccine targets.
Collapse
|
6
|
Parisi A, Lopes JS, Nunes A, Gomes MGM. Heterogeneity in antibody range and the antigenic drift of influenza A viruses. ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2012.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
7
|
Gjini E, Haydon DT, Barry JD, Cobbold CA. Linking the antigen archive structure to pathogen fitness in African trypanosomes. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 280:20122129. [PMID: 23282992 PMCID: PMC3574339 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2012] [Accepted: 12/05/2012] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Systems that generate antigenic variation enable pathogens to evade host immune responses and are intricately interwoven with major pathogen traits, such as host choice, growth, virulence and transmission. Although much is understood about antigen switching at the molecular level, little is known about the cross-scale links between these molecular processes and the larger-scale within and between host population dynamics that they must ultimately drive. Inspired by the antigenic variation system of African trypanosomes, we apply modelling approaches to our expanding understanding of the organization and expression of antigen repertoires, and explore links across these scales. We predict how pathogen population processes are determined by underlying molecular genetics and infer resulting selective pressures on important emergent repertoire traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Erida Gjini
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science and Engineering, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Rodpothong P, Auewarakul P. Viral evolution and transmission effectiveness. World J Virol 2012; 1:131-4. [PMID: 24175217 PMCID: PMC3782273 DOI: 10.5501/wjv.v1.i5.131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2011] [Revised: 08/10/2012] [Accepted: 09/07/2012] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Different viruses transmit among hosts with different degrees of efficiency. A basic reproductive number (R0) indicates an average number of cases getting infected from a single infected case. R0 can vary widely from a little over 1 to more than 10. Low R0 is usually found among rapidly evolving viruses that are often under a strong positive selection pressure, while high R0 is often found among viruses that are highly stable. The reason for the difference between antigenically diverse viruses with low R0, such as influenza A virus, and antigenically stable viruses with high R0, such as measles virus, is not clear and has been a subject of great interest. Optimization of transmissibility fitness considering intra-host dynamics and inter-host transmissibility was shown to result in strategies for tradeoff between transmissibility and diversity. The nature of transmission, targeting either a naïve children population or an adult population with partial immunity, has been proposed as a contributing factor for the difference in the strategies used by the two groups of viruses. The R0 determines the levels of threshold heard immunity. Lower R0 requires lower herd immunity to terminate an outbreak. Therefore, it can be assumed that the outbreak saturation can be reached more readily when the R0 is low. In addition, one may assume that when the outbreak saturation is reached, herd immunity may provide a strong positive selection pressure that could possibly result in an occurrence of escape mutants. Studies of these hypotheses will give us an important insight into viral evolution. This review discusses the above hypotheses as well as some possible mechanistic explanation for the difference in transmission efficiency of viruses
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Patsarin Rodpothong
- Patsarin Rodpothong, Prasert Auewarakul, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok 10700, Thailand
| | | |
Collapse
|
9
|
Buckee CO, Recker M. Evolution of the multi-domain structures of virulence genes in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Comput Biol 2012; 8:e1002451. [PMID: 22511852 PMCID: PMC3325180 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2011] [Accepted: 02/10/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The var gene family of Plasmodium falciparum encodes the immunodominant variant surface antigens PfEMP1. These highly polymorphic proteins are important virulence factors that mediate cytoadhesion to a variety of host tissues, causing sequestration of parasitized red blood cells in vital organs, including the brain or placenta. Acquisition of variant-specific antibodies correlates with protection against severe malarial infections; however, understanding the relationship between gene expression and infection outcome is complicated by the modular genetic architectures of var genes that encode varying numbers of antigenic domains with differential binding specificities. By analyzing the domain architectures of fully sequenced var gene repertoires we reveal a significant, non-random association between the number of domains comprising a var gene and their sequence conservation. As such, var genes can be grouped into those that are short and diverse and genes that are long and conserved, suggesting gene length as an important characteristic in the classification of var genes. We then use an evolutionary framework to demonstrate how the same evolutionary forces acting on the level of an individual gene may have also shaped the parasite's gene repertoire. The observed associations between sequence conservation, gene architecture and repertoire structure can thus be explained by a trade-off between optimizing within-host fitness and minimizing between-host immune selection pressure. Our results demonstrate how simple evolutionary mechanisms can explain var gene structuring on multiple levels and have important implications for understanding the multifaceted epidemiology of P. falciparum malaria. Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe of the human malarias, contains within its genome a family of ∼60 var genes which play an important role in disease pathology and maintenance of chronic infections. Var genes have a modular genetic architecture and encode varying numbers of binding domains with specific preferences to a range of host tissues. Given the availability of host receptors for binding and the immunogenic properties of each domain it is not clear why genes encode multiple domains at once and how these are structured within each parasite's antigenic repertoire. Here we investigate the domain architecture of these important virulence genes and highlight an evolutionary trade-off between maintaining within-host fitness and optimizing between-host transmission success as an important driver in structuring var genes and var gene repertoires alike.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Caroline O. Buckee
- Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Mario Recker
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Abstract
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by measles virus and is one of the most devastating infectious diseases of man--measles was responsible for millions of deaths annually worldwide before the introduction of the measles vaccines. Remarkable progress in reducing the number of people dying from measles has been made through measles vaccination, with an estimated 164,000 deaths attributed to measles in 2008. This achievement attests to the enormous importance of measles vaccination to public health. However, this progress is threatened by failure to maintain high levels of measles vaccine coverage. Recent measles outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the USA show the ease with which measles virus can re-enter communities if high levels of population immunity are not sustained. The major challenges for continued measles control and eventual eradication will be logistical, financial, and the garnering of sufficient political will. These challenges need to be met to ensure that future generations of children do not die of measles.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William J Moss
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Rainey PB, Beaumont HJE, Ferguson GC, Gallie J, Kost C, Libby E, Zhang XX. The evolutionary emergence of stochastic phenotype switching in bacteria. Microb Cell Fact 2011; 10 Suppl 1:S14. [PMID: 21995592 PMCID: PMC3231921 DOI: 10.1186/1475-2859-10-s1-s14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Stochastic phenotype switching - or bet hedging - is a pervasive feature of living systems and common in bacteria that experience fluctuating (unpredictable) environmental conditions. Under such conditions, the capacity to generate variable offspring spreads the risk of being maladapted in the present environment, against offspring likely to have some chance of survival in the future. While a rich subject for theoretical studies, little is known about the selective causes responsible for the evolutionary emergence of stochastic phenotype switching. Here we review recent work - both theoretical and experimental - that sheds light on ecological factors that favour switching types over non-switching types. Of particular relevance is an experiment that provided evidence for an adaptive origin of stochastic phenotype switching by subjecting bacterial populations to a selective regime that mimicked essential features of the host immune response. Central to the emergence of switching types was frequent imposition of 'exclusion rules' and 'population bottlenecks' - two complementary faces of frequency dependent selection. While features of the immune response, exclusion rules and bottlenecks are likely to operate in many natural environments. Together these factors define a set of selective conditions relevant to the evolution of stochastic switching, including antigenic variation and bacterial persistence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paul B Rainey
- New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study and Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution, Massey University at Albany, Auckland, New Zealand.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
12
|
Role of stochastic processes in maintaining discrete strain structure in antigenically diverse pathogen populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011; 108:15504-9. [PMID: 21876129 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1102445108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Many highly diverse pathogen populations appear to exist stably as discrete antigenic types despite evidence of genetic exchange. It has been shown that this may arise as a consequence of immune selection on pathogen populations, causing them to segregate permanently into discrete nonoverlapping subsets of antigenic variants to minimize competition for available hosts. However, discrete antigenic strain structure tends to break down under conditions where there are unequal numbers of allelic variants at each locus. Here, we show that the inclusion of stochastic processes can lead to the stable recovery of discrete strain structure through loss of certain alleles. This explains how pathogen populations may continue to behave as independently transmitted strains despite inevitable asymmetries in allelic diversity of major antigens. We present evidence for this type of structuring across global meningococcal isolates in three diverse antigens that are currently being developed as vaccine components.
Collapse
|
13
|
Abstract
Recent progress in reducing global measles mortality has renewed interest in measles eradication. Three biological criteria are deemed important for disease eradication: (1) humans are the sole pathogen reservoir; (2) accurate diagnostic tests exist; and (3) an effective, practical intervention is available at reasonable cost. Interruption of transmission in large geographical areas for prolonged periods further supports the feasibility of eradication. Measles is thought by many experts to meet these criteria: no nonhuman reservoir is known to exist, accurate diagnostic tests are available, and attenuated measles vaccines are effective and immunogenic. Measles has been eliminated in large geographical areas, including the Americas. Measles eradication is biologically feasible. The challenges for measles eradication will be logistical, political, and financial.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William J Moss
- Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
14
|
de Jong IG, Haccou P, Kuipers OP. Bet hedging or not? A guide to proper classification of microbial survival strategies. Bioessays 2011; 33:215-23. [PMID: 21254151 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201000127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Bacteria have developed an impressive ability to survive and propagate in highly diverse and changing environments by evolving phenotypic heterogeneity. Phenotypic heterogeneity ensures that a subpopulation is well prepared for environmental changes. The expression bet hedging is commonly (but often incorrectly) used by molecular biologists to describe any observed phenotypic heterogeneity. In evolutionary biology, however, bet hedging denotes a risk-spreading strategy displayed by isogenic populations that evolved in unpredictably changing environments. Opposed to other survival strategies, bet hedging evolves because the selection environment changes and favours different phenotypes at different times. Consequently, in bet hedging populations all phenotypes perform differently well at any time, depending on the selection pressures present. Moreover, bet hedging is the only strategy in which temporal variance of offspring numbers per individual is minimized. Our paper aims to provide a guide for the correct use of the term bet hedging in molecular biology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Imke G de Jong
- Molecular Genetics Group, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
15
|
Comas I, Chakravartti J, Small PM, Galagan J, Niemann S, Kremer K, Ernst JD, Gagneux S. Human T cell epitopes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are evolutionarily hyperconserved. Nat Genet 2010; 42:498-503. [PMID: 20495566 PMCID: PMC2883744 DOI: 10.1038/ng.590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 499] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2009] [Accepted: 04/20/2010] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an obligate human pathogen capable of persisting in individual hosts for decades. We sequenced the genomes of 21 strains representative of the global diversity and six major lineages of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) at 40- to 90-fold coverage using Illumina next-generation DNA sequencing. We constructed a genome-wide phylogeny based on these genome sequences. Comparative analyses of the sequences showed, as expected, that essential genes in MTBC were more evolutionarily conserved than nonessential genes. Notably, however, most of the 491 experimentally confirmed human T cell epitopes showed little sequence variation and had a lower ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous changes than seen in essential and nonessential genes. We confirmed these findings in an additional data set consisting of 16 antigens in 99 MTBC strains. These findings are consistent with strong purifying selection acting on these epitopes, implying that MTBC might benefit from recognition by human T cells.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Iñaki Comas
- Medical Research Council, National Institute for Medical Research, London, NW7 1AA, UK
| | | | - Peter M. Small
- The Institute for Systems Biology and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA 98102, USA
| | - James Galagan
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Stefan Niemann
- Research Centre Borstel, Molecular Mycobacteriology, 23845 Borstel, Germany
| | - Kristin Kremer
- Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory (CIb-LIS), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
| | - Joel D. Ernst
- New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
| | - Sebastien Gagneux
- Medical Research Council, National Institute for Medical Research, London, NW7 1AA, UK
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, 4002 Basel, Switzerland
- University of Basel, 4003 Basel, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Antigenic diversity, transmission mechanisms, and the evolution of pathogens. PLoS Comput Biol 2009; 5:e1000536. [PMID: 19847288 PMCID: PMC2759524 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2009] [Accepted: 09/17/2009] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Pathogens have evolved diverse strategies to maximize their transmission fitness. Here we investigate these strategies for directly transmitted pathogens using mathematical models of disease pathogenesis and transmission, modeling fitness as a function of within- and between-host pathogen dynamics. The within-host model includes realistic constraints on pathogen replication via resource depletion and cross-immunity between pathogen strains. We find three distinct types of infection emerge as maxima in the fitness landscape, each characterized by particular within-host dynamics, host population contact network structure, and transmission mode. These three infection types are associated with distinct non-overlapping ranges of levels of antigenic diversity, and well-defined patterns of within-host dynamics and between-host transmissibility. Fitness, quantified by the basic reproduction number, also falls within distinct ranges for each infection type. Every type is optimal for certain contact structures over a range of contact rates. Sexually transmitted infections and childhood diseases are identified as exemplar types for low and high contact rates, respectively. This work generates a plausible mechanistic hypothesis for the observed tradeoff between pathogen transmissibility and antigenic diversity, and shows how different classes of pathogens arise evolutionarily as fitness optima for different contact network structures and host contact rates. Infectious diseases vary widely in how they affect those who get infected and how they are transmitted. As an example, the duration of a single infection can range from days to years, while transmission can occur via the respiratory route, water or sexual contact. Measles and HIV are contrasting examples—both are caused by RNA viruses, but one is a genetically diverse, lethal sexually transmitted infection (STI) while the other is a relatively mild respiratory childhood disease with low antigenic diversity. We investigate why the most transmissible respiratory diseases such as measles and rubella are antigenically static, meaning immunity is lifelong, while other diseases—such as influenza, or the sexually transmitted diseases—seem to trade transmissibility for the ability to generate multiple diverse strains so as to evade host immunity. We use mathematical models of disease progression and evolution within the infected host coupled with models of transmission between hosts to explore how transmission modes, host contact rates and network structure determine antigenic diversity, infectiousness and duration of infection. In doing so, we classify infections into three types—measles-like (high transmissibility, but antigenically static), flu-like (lower transmissibility, but more antigenically diverse), and STI-like (very antigenically diverse, long lived infection, but low overall transmissibility).
Collapse
|
17
|
de Swart RL, Yüksel S, Langerijs CN, Muller CP, Osterhaus ADME. Depletion of measles virus glycoprotein-specific antibodies from human sera reveals genotype-specific neutralizing antibodies. J Gen Virol 2009; 90:2982-2989. [PMID: 19710253 DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.014944-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Measles virus (MV)-neutralizing antibodies in sera from vaccinated subjects are mainly directed against the haemagglutinin (H) protein. It has been shown previously that depletion of vaccination-induced H-specific antibodies by co-culture of sera with cells expressing the MV Edmonston strain H glycoprotein resulted in almost complete elimination of neutralizing activity. In the present study, MV H and/or fusion (F) protein-specific antibodies were depleted from sera of naturally immune subjects. Early convalescent samples were collected 1.5 years after a well-characterized measles outbreak in Luxembourg caused by a genotype C2 virus, whilst late convalescent samples were collected from healthy Dutch subjects born between 1960 and 1970. Depletion of both H- and F-specific antibodies completely eliminated virus-neutralizing (VN) activity against MV Edmonston. However, in the early convalescent samples, residual VN antibody against wild-type MV genotype C2 was detected. This demonstrated that, although the majority of MV-specific VN antibodies recognized epitopes conserved between different genotypes, genotype-specific VN epitopes were also induced. In sera depleted of H-specific antibodies only, VN activity against MV Edmonston was not completely eliminated, demonstrating the presence of F-specific VN antibodies. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that a fraction of VN antibodies induced by wild-type MV genotype C2 does not neutralize MV strain Edmonston. In addition, it was shown that, in sera from naturally immune donors, the majority of VN antibodies are specific for MV H protein, but up to 10 % of neutralizing antibodies are specific for MV F protein.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rik L de Swart
- Department of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Selma Yüksel
- Department of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Carianne N Langerijs
- Department of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Claude P Muller
- Laboratoire National de Santé/CRP-Santé, WHO Regional Reference Centre for Measles and Rubella, PO Box 1102, L-1011 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
| | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Abstract
Remarkable progress has been made in reducing measles incidence and mortality as a consequence of implementing the measles mortality reduction strategy of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The revised global measles mortality reduction goal set forth in the WHO-UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy for 2006–2015 is to reduce measles deaths by 90% by 2010 compared to the estimated 757,000 deaths in 2000. The possibility of measles eradication has been discussed for almost 40 years, and measles meets many of the criteria for eradication. Global measles eradication will face a number of challenges to achieving and sustaining high levels of vaccine coverage and population immunity, including population growth and demographic changes, conflict and political instability, and public perceptions of vaccine safety. To achieve the measles mortality reduction goal, continued progress needs to be made in delivering measles vaccines to the world's children.
Collapse
|