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Christie ALM, Lee MXY, Evenhuis JV, Rickert SS, Kass PH, Verstraete FJM. Dental and temporomandibular joint pathology of the island fox (Urocyon littoralis). J Comp Pathol 2023; 200:23-34. [PMID: 36630854 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2022.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Revised: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Museum skull specimens from 318 island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) were examined macroscopically according to predefined criteria. The study population included males (n = 129, 40.6%), females (n = 93, 29.3%) and animals of unknown sex (n = 96, 30.2%), and comprised 182 (57.2%) adults, 118 (37.1%) young adults and 18 (5.7%) individuals of unknown age, with juveniles and neonates excluded. The number of teeth present for examination was 11,438 (85.6%) with 1918 (14.4%) absent artefactually, 4 (0.03%) absent congenitally and 243 (1.82%) lost ante mortem through acquired tooth loss. There were seven persistent deciduous teeth (0.05%) in three specimens and 11 supernumerary teeth (0.08%) in 10 specimens. Teeth with extra roots were found in 38 skulls (11.9%) with 0.48% of all teeth affected. Two (0.63%) specimens had one tooth with an abnormal form. Fifty-eight (18.2%) specimens had bone fenestrations. Of the alveoli examined, 5361 (46.9%) displayed bony changes suggestive of periodontitis, with 315 (99.1%) of skulls affected. Of the teeth available for examination in 310 specimens (97.5%), most (n = 6,040, 52.8%) had some degree of attrition or abrasion. Fractures affected 1217 (11.0%) of the teeth present in 266 specimens (83.6%). Twenty-three periapical lesions (0.20%) were present in 16 skulls (5.03%). Evidence of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis was found in seven specimens (0.02%) on either the mandibular head of the condylar process or on the mandibular fossa of the temporal bone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anneka L M Christie
- Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Michelle X Y Lee
- Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Janny V Evenhuis
- William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Siobhan S Rickert
- Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Philip H Kass
- Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Frank J M Verstraete
- Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
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Gilbertson MLJ, Fountain-Jones NM, Malmberg JL, Gagne RB, Lee JS, Kraberger S, Kechejian S, Petch R, Chiu ES, Onorato D, Cunningham MW, Crooks KR, Funk WC, Carver S, VandeWoude S, VanderWaal K, Craft ME. Apathogenic proxies for transmission dynamics of a fatal virus. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:940007. [PMID: 36157183 PMCID: PMC9493079 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.940007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying drivers of transmission-especially of emerging pathogens-is a formidable challenge for proactive disease management efforts. While close social interactions can be associated with microbial sharing between individuals, and thereby imply dynamics important for transmission, such associations can be obscured by the influences of factors such as shared diets or environments. Directly-transmitted viral agents, specifically those that are rapidly evolving such as many RNA viruses, can allow for high-resolution inference of transmission, and therefore hold promise for elucidating not only which individuals transmit to each other, but also drivers of those transmission events. Here, we tested a novel approach in the Florida panther, which is affected by several directly-transmitted feline retroviruses. We first inferred the transmission network for an apathogenic, directly-transmitted retrovirus, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and then used exponential random graph models to determine drivers structuring this network. We then evaluated the utility of these drivers in predicting transmission of the analogously transmitted, pathogenic agent, feline leukemia virus (FeLV), and compared FIV-based predictions of outbreak dynamics against empirical FeLV outbreak data. FIV transmission was primarily driven by panther age class and distances between panther home range centroids. FIV-based modeling predicted FeLV dynamics similarly to common modeling approaches, but with evidence that FIV-based predictions captured the spatial structuring of the observed FeLV outbreak. While FIV-based predictions of FeLV transmission performed only marginally better than standard approaches, our results highlight the value of proactively identifying drivers of transmission-even based on analogously-transmitted, apathogenic agents-in order to predict transmission of emerging infectious agents. The identification of underlying drivers of transmission, such as through our workflow here, therefore holds promise for improving predictions of pathogen transmission in novel host populations, and could provide new strategies for proactive pathogen management in human and animal systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie L. J. Gilbertson
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
| | | | - Jennifer L. Malmberg
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
- Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States
| | - Roderick B. Gagne
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
- Wildlife Futures Program, Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Kennett Square, PA, United States
| | - Justin S. Lee
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Simona Kraberger
- The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
| | - Sarah Kechejian
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Raegan Petch
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Elliott S. Chiu
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Dave Onorato
- Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Naples, FL, United States
| | - Mark W. Cunningham
- Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Kevin R. Crooks
- Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - W. Chris Funk
- Department of Biology, Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Scott Carver
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
| | - Sue VandeWoude
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Kimberly VanderWaal
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
| | - Meggan E. Craft
- Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States
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Adams NE, Becker MA, Edmands S. Effect of Geography and Captivity on Scat Bacterial Communities in the Imperiled Channel Island Fox. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:748323. [PMID: 34925262 PMCID: PMC8672056 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.748323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
With developing understanding that host-associated microbiota play significant roles in individual health and fitness, taking an interdisciplinary approach combining microbiome research with conservation science is increasingly favored. Here we establish the scat microbiome of the imperiled Channel Island fox (Urocyon littoralis) and examine the effects of geography and captivity on the variation in bacterial communities. Using high throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we discovered distinct bacterial communities in each island fox subspecies. Weight, timing of the sample collection, and sex contributed to the geographic patterns. We uncovered significant taxonomic differences and an overall decrease in bacterial diversity in captive versus wild foxes. Understanding the drivers of microbial variation in this system provides a valuable lens through which to evaluate the health and conservation of these genetically depauperate foxes. The island-specific bacterial community baselines established in this study can make monitoring island fox health easier and understanding the implications of inter-island translocation clearer. The decrease in bacterial diversity within captive foxes could lead to losses in the functional services normally provided by commensal microbes and suggests that zoos and captive breeding programs would benefit from maintaining microbial diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole E Adams
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Madeleine A Becker
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Suzanne Edmands
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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