Deepening the Conception of Functional Information in the Description of Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Infectious agents, their hosts, and relevant abiotic components are directly involved in the complex dynamic process of maintaining infectious diseases in Nature. The current tendency to focus on host-pathogen interactions at the molecular and organismal levels does not advance our knowledge about infectious diseases, as much as it potentially could, by ignoring the ecological context pivotal for understanding the biology of the diseases. A new model of investigation requires a dynamic shift of perspectives in the "simplicity-complexity" dimension: from virulence factors to multi-sided descriptions of the pathogens; from particular microbes to wide microbial communities; from clinical manifestations to a variety of infectious patterns; from findings of infectious agents to defining a natural focus of the infection as a self-regulated system; from single factors affecting host-parasite relations to the complex ecological context. Various aspects of interactions between hosts, vectors, pathogens, and environmental niches should be integrated at multiple spatiotemporal scales and at different levels of biological organization (molecular, genomic, organismal, population, and ecosystem).

Complexity and biosemiotics in evolutionary ecology of zoonotic infectious agents

“…High‐throughput sequencing technologies have proved useful for epidemiological surveillance of zoonotic diseases, but without taking into account biological contexts high sensitivity of these powerful tools may also introduce biases and lead to erroneous conclusions (Achtman & Wagner, ; Galan et al., ). Expanded information on diversity detectable in microbial populations and multiple molecular parameters used for evaluating virulence and immune responses is coincidental with greater uncertainties in defining biological roles of infectious agents as pathogens and their ecological relations with hosts (Kosoy, ).…”

“…The rapid progress in the development of much more sensitive detection methods and the studies of human and animal microbiota, as a combination of all microbes (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) inhabiting the same organism, has challenged the criteria for evaluation of pathogenicity status. This trend led also to a greater terra incognita separating microbes considered to be a part of “normal” microflora, and those considered to be aberrant and pathogenic (Kosoy, ). The increased abundance of data is no longer consistent with the simple model of pathogen versus nonpathogen dichotomy accepted previously as the ever more complex microbiotas reported across a range of chronic infections fit poorly into classical models where simple microbe–outcome associations imply causality (Rogers et al., ).…”

“…Attempts to apply the theory and practical means of complexity science for ecology of infectious diseases have been very limited (Arch‐Tirado & Rosado‐Muñoz, ; Casadevall et al., ; Kosoy, ; Krakauer, ). To comprehend the novelty of this approach while avoiding a long review, consider a framework for understanding the characteristics of complexity in biology proposed by Dauer and Dauer () based on the compilation of a variety of definitions from other sources: (i) components are diverse and have diverse responses, (ii) functional relationships are nonlinear, continuous, and interactive, (iii) processes are simultaneous, dynamic, and emergent, (iv) manifestations are conditional and irregular, and (v) interpretation allows multiple representations.…”

“…The high microbial variability within most populations of known pathogens is well documented (Achtman & Wagner, ; Gupta & Maiden, ; Kosoy, ). In reality, studies of infectious diseases, whether an experimental animal study or a diagnostic detection of a pathogen, typically focus on a specific type or a species of zoonotic agent.…”

Biosemiotic Entropy: Concluding the Series

“…They showed how the biosemiotic noise created by the widespread use of such a toxicant can contribute to a host of disparate conditions such as infertility, cancer, and Alzheimer's. In item ten, Kosoy [12] expanded the theme of interactions across communities not only of microbes but also the hosts to infectious parasites, microbes, and pathogens. Like the Dieterts, Kosoy argues for molecular, genomic, organismic, population, and ecological contexts of interaction.…”