Host Phylogeny Constrains Cross-Species Emergence and Establishment of Rabies Virus in Bats

Streicker, Daniel G.; Turmelle, Amy S.; Vonhof, Maarten J.; Kuzmin, Ivan V.; McCracken, Gary F.; Rupprecht, Charles E.

doi:10.1126/science.1188836

Cited by 420 publications

(541 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…In contrast, the high prevalence of RVNA in hoary bats does not fit well with the concept that the major determinant of antibody prevalence is contact rate, suggesting that other factors are at play, perhaps including aggression. Roughly 30% of a sample of rabies viruses genetically typed as hoary bat variant were recovered from other species of bats (Streicker et al, 2010). Regardless of these differences, it is clear that both solitary tree bat species we investigated fit the general pattern of having a significant fraction of healthy adults with RVNA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Since that initial recognition, rabiesvirus infection is recognized as enzootic in bats in the United States and Canada, and the virus has been detected in all known species of bats in these countries (Constantine, 1979;Brass, 1994;Streicker et al, 2010). With the elimination of canine rabies from the United States, a majority of human rabies cases in recent years have resulted from infection with variants of rabies virus associated with bats (Messenger et al, 2003;Kuzmin and Rupprecht, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prevalence of Neutralizing Antibodies to Rabies Virus in Serum of Seven Species of Insectivorous Bats From Colorado and New Mexico, United States

Bowen

O’Shea

Shankar

et al. 2013

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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ABSTRACT:We determined the presence of rabies-virus-neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) in serum of 721 insectivorous bats of seven species captured, sampled, and released in Colorado and New Mexico, United States in [2003][2004][2005]. A subsample of 160 bats was tested for rabies-virus RNA in saliva. We sampled little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) at two maternity roosts in Larimer County, Colorado; big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) at three maternity roosts in Morgan County, Colorado; and big brown bats at five maternity roosts in Larimer County. We also sampled hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) and silver-haired bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans) captured while drinking or foraging over water in Bernalillo County, New Mexico and at various locations in Larimer County. Big brown bats, little brown bats, long-legged myotis (Myotis volans), long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis), and fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) were also sampled over water in Larimer County. All species except long-eared myotis included individuals with RVNA, with prevalences ranging from 7% in adult female silver-haired bats to 32% in adult female hoary bats. None of the bats had detectable rabies-virus RNA in oropharyngeal swabs, including 51 bats of 5 species that had RVNA in serum. Antibody-positive bats were present in nine of the 10 maternity colonies sampled. These data suggest that wild bats are commonly exposed to rabies virus and develop a humoral immune response suggesting some degree of viral replication, but many infections fail to progress to clinical disease.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of Neutralizing Antibodies to Rabies Virus in Serum of Seven Species of Insectivorous Bats From Colorado and New Mexico, United States

Bowen

O’Shea

Shankar

et al. 2013

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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“…Pathogen spillover from one host species to another means that community composition as well as species diversity can influence disease dynamics 18 . An unresolved question is whether these effects of community composition are idiosyncratic, or rather follow general rules that can be used to predict disease pressure.The particular host species that are susceptible to a pathogen are a non-random subset of the local community, because a pathogen is more likely to be able to infect closely related species than evolutionarily distant ones 6,7,19 . This means that phylogenetic distance among species could be used to predict which local species are likely to be alternative hosts for the same pathogen 6 .…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A leading hypothesis asserts that the impact of disease should increase with host abundance, producing a 'rare-species advantage' [3][4][5] . However, the impact of a pathogen may be decoupled from host abundance, because most pathogens infect more than one species, leading to pathogen spillover onto closely related species 6,7 . Here we show that the phylogenetic and ecological structure of the surrounding community can be important predictors of disease pressure.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The particular host species that are susceptible to a pathogen are a non-random subset of the local community, because a pathogen is more likely to be able to infect closely related species than evolutionarily distant ones 6,7,19 . This means that phylogenetic distance among species could be used to predict which local species are likely to be alternative hosts for the same pathogen 6 .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Phylogenetic structure and host abundance drive disease pressure in communities

Parker

Saunders

Bontrager

et al. 2015

Nature

280

312

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Pathogens play an important part in shaping the structure and dynamics of natural communities, because species are not affected by them equally 1,2 . A shared goal of ecology and epidemiology is to predict when a species is most vulnerable to disease. A leading hypothesis asserts that the impact of disease should increase with host abundance, producing a 'rare-species advantage' 3-5 . However, the impact of a pathogen may be decoupled from host abundance, because most pathogens infect more than one species, leading to pathogen spillover onto closely related species 6,7 . Here we show that the phylogenetic and ecological structure of the surrounding community can be important predictors of disease pressure. We found that the amount of tissue lost to disease increased with the relative abundance of a species across a grassland plant community, and that this rare-species advantage had an additional phylogenetic component: disease pressure was stronger on species with many close relatives. We used a global model of pathogen sharing as a function of relatedness between hosts, which provided a robust predictor of relative disease pressure at the local scale. In our grassland, the total amount of disease was most accurately explained not by the abundance of the focal host alone, but by the abundance of all species in the community weighted by their phylogenetic distance to the host. Furthermore, the model strongly predicted observed disease pressure for 44 novel host species we introduced experimentally to our study site, providing evidence for a mechanism to explain why phylogenetically rare species are more likely to become invasive when introduced 8,9 . Our results demonstrate how the phylogenetic and ecological structure of communities can have a key role in disease dynamics, with implications for the maintenance of biodiversity, biotic resistance against introduced weeds, and the success of managed plants in agriculture and forestry.Plant pathogens can be important drivers of community diversity, structure and dynamics 1,2,10,11 . A basic premise of epidemiology is that pathogen transmission often increases with host density 12,13 . Densitydependent disease provides a mechanism for the maintenance of plant diversity in natural communities, in which locally uncommon species enjoy a rare-species advantage-based on lower enemy pressure-that mitigates the competitive impacts of dominant species 3-5 . Reports of density-dependent disease dynamics generally infer the potential effects on communities from studies of one or a few species 2 , while community-level studies 1 are scarce but essential to evaluate whether such a rarespecies advantage predicts patterns of disease across a community.An ongoing debate concerns how community context influences disease, and particularly whether biodiversity suppresses infection and emerging diseases 14,15 . If increasing the number of species in a community reduces the density of competent hosts or the frequency of infected vectors, then biodiversity shows a suppressive 'dilution e...

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Assessing the phylogenetic host breadth of millet pathogens and its implication for disease spillover

Ssebuliba

Davies

2021

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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1. Increasing agriculture intensification has led to dramatically improved crop yields; however, this shift in agricultural practice has been accompanied by increasing threats from new and emerging plant pathogens. While the pathogens associated with crop species are often well studied, especially within North America and Europe, less is known about pathogen pressures on crops elsewhere, and our ability to predict the emergence of novel pathogens is limited. Here, we model phylogenetic constraints on the distribution of pathogens of millet-one of the most important crops in Africa. 2. We conducted a literature review to compile a database of common millet pathogens and the non-millet host crops associated with each. We then characterized the phylogenetic host range for each pathogen using measures of mean pairwise distance (MPD) and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD) separating crop hosts. 3. We detected robust phylogenetic clustering for both metrics of phylogenetic dispersion (MPD and MNTD). Evidence for phylogenetic clustering tended to be stronger (more negative standard effect sizes) and more variable for MPD than for MNTD. 4. Although patterns for individual pathogens were variable, we did not find significant differences in phylogenetic dispersion of hosts among pathogen types (bacteria, viruses and fungi). However, in several cases, we observed evidence of phylogenetic clustering in evolutionarily distant host clades, a possible signal of occasional large phylogenetic host jumps. 5. We show that pathogens cluster on closely related hosts, and it is thus likely that closely related millets also share similar pathogen communities. On average, the probability of a pathogen host shift may, therefore, be predicted by the phylogenetic relatedness between host species. However, host shifts between distantly related hosts are not infrequent. This finding has relevance not only for the design of agronomic systems to reduce disease spillover but also for biological control agents risk analysis, quarantine regulations in international trade and our understanding of the distribution and abundance of plants in natural systems.

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Host Phylogeny Constrains Cross-Species Emergence and Establishment of Rabies Virus in Bats

Cited by 420 publications

References 18 publications

Prevalence of Neutralizing Antibodies to Rabies Virus in Serum of Seven Species of Insectivorous Bats From Colorado and New Mexico, United States

Prevalence of Neutralizing Antibodies to Rabies Virus in Serum of Seven Species of Insectivorous Bats From Colorado and New Mexico, United States

Phylogenetic structure and host abundance drive disease pressure in communities

Assessing the phylogenetic host breadth of millet pathogens and its implication for disease spillover

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