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Rodríguez-Pastor R, Hasik AZ, Knossow N, Bar-Shira E, Shahar N, Gutiérrez R, Zaman L, Harrus S, Lenski RE, Barrick JE, Hawlena H. Bartonella infections are prevalent in rodents despite efficient immune responses. Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:315. [PMID: 37667323 PMCID: PMC10478473 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05918-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pathogens face strong selection from host immune responses, yet many host populations support pervasive pathogen populations. We investigated this puzzle in a model system of Bartonella and rodents from Israel's northwestern Negev Desert. We chose to study this system because, in this region, 75-100% of rodents are infected with Bartonella at any given time, despite an efficient immunological response. In this region, Bartonella species circulate in three rodent species, and we tested the hypothesis that at least one of these hosts exhibits a waning immune response to Bartonella, which allows reinfections. METHODS We inoculated captive animals of all three rodent species with the same Bartonella strain, and we quantified the bacterial dynamics and Bartonella-specific immunoglobulin G antibody kinetics over a period of 139 days after the primary inoculation, and then for 60 days following reinoculation with the same strain. RESULTS Contrary to our hypothesis, we found a strong, long-lasting immunoglobulin G antibody response, with protective immunological memory in all three rodent species. That response prevented reinfection upon exposure of the rodents to the same Bartonella strain. CONCLUSIONS This study constitutes an initial step toward understanding how the interplay between traits of Bartonella and their hosts influences the epidemiological dynamics of these pathogens in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Rodríguez-Pastor
- Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Adam Z Hasik
- Jacob Blaustein Center for Scientific Cooperation, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Nadav Knossow
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Enav Bar-Shira
- Section of Immunology, Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Naama Shahar
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel
| | - Ricardo Gutiérrez
- National Reference Center for Bacteriology, Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health (INCIENSA), Cartago, Costa Rica
| | - Luis Zaman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Shimon Harrus
- Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Richard E Lenski
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
| | - Jeffrey E Barrick
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Hadas Hawlena
- The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 849900, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
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Gomes TMFF, Wallau GL, Loreto ELS. Multiple long-range host shifts of major Wolbachia supergroups infecting arthropods. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8131. [PMID: 35581290 PMCID: PMC9114371 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12299-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular bacterial endosymbionts found in 20–66% of all insect species and a range of other invertebrates. It is classified as a single species, Wolbachia pipientis, divided into supergroups A to U, with supergroups A and B infecting arthropods exclusively. Wolbachia is transmitted mainly via vertical transmission through female oocytes, but can also be transmitted across different taxa by host shift (HS): the direct transmission of Wolbachia cells between organisms without involving vertically transmitted gametic cells. To assess the HS contribution, we recovered 50 orthologous genes from over 1000 Wolbachia genomes, reconstructed their phylogeny and calculated gene similarity. Of 15 supergroup A Wolbachia lineages, 10 have similarities ranging from 95 to 99.9%, while their hosts’ similarities are around 60 to 80%. For supergroup B, four out of eight lineages, which infect diverse and distantly-related organisms such as Acari, Hemiptera and Diptera, showed similarities from 93 to 97%. These results show that Wolbachia genomes have a much higher similarity when compared to their hosts’ genes, which is a major indicator of HS. Our comparative genomic analysis suggests that, at least for supergroups A and B, HS is more frequent than expected, occurring even between distantly-related species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiago M F F Gomes
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Gabriel L Wallau
- Departamento de Entomologia, Instituto Aggeu Magalhães, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
| | - Elgion L S Loreto
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. .,Departamento de Entomologia, Instituto Aggeu Magalhães, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. .,Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Federal University of Santa Maria, Av. Roraima 1000, Santa Maria, RS, CEP 97105.900, Brazil.
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Pimentel AC, Cesar CS, Martins M, Cogni R. The Antiviral Effects of the Symbiont Bacteria Wolbachia in Insects. Front Immunol 2021; 11:626329. [PMID: 33584729 PMCID: PMC7878553 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.626329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted bacterium that lives inside arthropod cells. Historically, it was viewed primarily as a parasite that manipulates host reproduction, but more recently it was discovered that Wolbachia can also protect Drosophila species against infection by RNA viruses. Combined with Wolbachia's ability to invade insect populations due to reproductive manipulations, this provides a way to modify mosquito populations to prevent them transmitting viruses like dengue. In this review, we discuss the main advances in the field since Wolbachia's antiviral effect was discovered 12 years ago, identifying current research gaps and potential future developments. We discuss that the antiviral effect works against a broad range of RNA viruses and depends on the Wolbachia lineage. We describe what is known about the mechanisms behind viral protection, and that recent studies suggest two possible mechanisms: activation of host immunity or competition with virus for cellular resources. We also discuss how association with Wolbachia may influence the evolution of virus defense on the insect host genome. Finally, we investigate whether the antiviral effect occurs in wild insect populations and its ecological relevance as a major antiviral component in insects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Rodrigo Cogni
- Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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