Landscape genetics highlights the role of bank vole metapopulation dynamics in the epidemiology of Puumala hantavirus

Abstract

Rodent host dynamics and dispersal are thought to be critical for hantavirus epidemiology as they determine pathogen persistence and transmission within and between host populations. We used landscape genetics to investigate how the population dynamics of the bank vole Myodes glareolus, the host of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), vary with forest fragmentation and influence PUUV epidemiology. We sampled vole populations within the Ardennes, a French PUUV endemic area. We inferred demographic features such as population size, isolation and migration with regard to landscape configuration. We next analysed the influence of M. glareolus population dynamics on PUUV spatial distribution. Our results revealed that the global metapopulation dynamics of bank voles were strongly shaped by landscape features, including suitable patch size and connectivity. Large effective size in forest might therefore contribute to the higher observed levels of PUUV prevalence. By contrast, populations from hedge networks highly suffered from genetic drift and appeared strongly isolated from all other populations. This might result in high probabilities of local extinction for both M. glareolus and PUUV. Besides, we detected signatures of asymmetric bank vole migration from forests to hedges. These movements were likely to sustain PUUV in fragmented landscapes. In conclusion, our study provided arguments in favour of source-sink dynamics shaping PUUV persistence and spread in heterogeneous, Western European temperate landscapes. It illustrated the potential contribution of landscape genetics to the understanding of the epidemiological processes occurring at this local scale.

Epidemiology of Leptospira Transmitted by Rodents in Southeast Asia

“…In the case of Southeast Asian rodents, one can imagine seasonal movements between flooded and non-flooded habitats, or between other habitats, but we lack data on these movements, which have not been the subject of publication to our knowledge. Because these movements may involve rodents infected with Leptospira , this process could have important consequences on Leptospira distributions within Southeast Asian agricultural landscapes (see [48] for an example of the importance of rodent movements for the epidemiology of a rodent-borne hantavirus in Europe). As has already been pointed out by Singleton and collaborators [49], more data is needed on the ecology of rodents in Southeast Asia, and such data would probably significantly increase our understanding of Leptospira epidemiology.…”

Genetic characterization of the human relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi in vectors and animal reservoirs of Lyme disease spirochetes in France

“…Ticks (268 questing Ixodes ricinus female ticks) and bank voles (72 Myodes glareolus ) were collected and trapped in the French Ardennes, an endemic region for rodent-borne hantaviruses, along a transect line of about 80 km in the course of a study of the epidemiology of Puumala hantavirus [16]. Along this transect, we sampled six sites in forested areas and four sites in fragmented habitats (i.e.…”

Immunogenetic Factors Affecting Susceptibility of Humans and Rodents to Hantaviruses and the Clinical Course of Hantaviral Disease in Humans

“…The mRNA levels of Mx2 genes were negatively correlated with PUUV loads in infected bank voles, corroborating the idea that Mx2 might limit PUUV replication in bank voles. They also showed that bank voles from forests (higher PUUV seroprevalence) had lower levels of Mx2 gene expression than voles living in fragmented hedge networks lower PUUV seroprevalence, higher genetic drift, see [110]. Again, these lower levels of expression may be considered to reflect tolerance mechanism against pathogens (including PUUV).…”