Host condition and individual risk of cowpox virus infection in natural animal populations: cause or effect?

Beldoménico, Pablo Martín; Telfer, Sandra; Lukomski, Lukasz; Gebert, S.; Bennett, Malcolm J.; Begon, Michael

doi:10.1017/s0950268808001866

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…There was also a general tendency for individuals in apparently poorer condition (with relatively small livers, small spleens, few splenocytes or few erythrocytes) to produce more pro‐inflammatory mRNAs. Taken together, the nonperiodic temporal fluctuations and the negative association of inflammatory activity with measures of condition suggest a syndrome of immunological responses that might relate to unidentified environmental drivers (Beldomenico et al. 2008b, 2009) and perhaps even to specific pathological or immunopathological conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The analysis of immunological profiles in wild animals: a case study on immunodynamics in the field vole, Microtus agrestis

et al. 2010

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A revolutionary advance in ecological immunology is that postgenomic technologies now allow molecular mediators defined in laboratory models to be measured at the mRNA level in field studies of many naturally occurring species. Here, we demonstrate the application of such an approach to generate meaningful immunological profiles for wild mammals. We sampled a natural field vole population across the year (n = 307) and developed a battery of cellular assays in which functionally different pro- and anti-inflammatory signalling responses (transcription factors and cytokines) were activated and quantified by Q-PCR. Temporal trends were the strongest feature in the expression data, although some life history stages (mating vs. nonmating males and pregnant females) were also associated with significant variation. There was a striking set of significant negative associations between inflammatory mediators and condition indices reflecting packed erythrocyte volume and relative liver size, spleen size and splenocyte count. Grouped (principal component) measures of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory expression were high in winter, with minima in the breeding season that occurred earlier for grouped anti-inflammatory responses than for grouped inflammatory responses. Some individual immunological mediators also showed patterns unrelated to the breeding season or annual periodic cues. For example, interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) expression declined throughout the study period, indicating a systematic trend in antimicrobial defences. Pinpointing the causes and consequences of such variation may help identify underlying environmental drivers of individual fitness and demographic fluctuation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The analysis of immunological profiles in wild animals: a case study on immunodynamics in the field vole, Microtus agrestis

et al. 2010

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“…Although a link between condition and disease is not unexpected (Beldomenico et al 2008), field studies that document this link in wild populations are rare (e.g. Hakkarainen et al 2007;Beldomenico et al 2009). Effects of poor condition and infection can be synergistic, because individuals in poor condition might be less resistant to disease, and infection might further reduce individual condition (Beldomenico et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals in good condition might be able to mount a stronger immune response than individuals in poor condition (Moller et al 1998;Blanco et al 2001), particularly if immune response is costly. However, if individuals in poor condition experience a higher infection probability or are more likely to be suffering from a current infection than individuals in good condition (Beldomenico et al 2008(Beldomenico et al , 2009), then they might invest more resources into immune defence and therefore exhibit a stronger response to experimental challenges. Costly allocation to immune response by individuals in poor condition might further impact condition or growth (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…within the first 13 months of their life), or if these individuals were already suffering from infections as nestlings, which led to their poor nestling body condition and contributed to eventual disease mortality. More information regarding the direction of causation among these links could be gained by repeated measures of condition, immune response and infection status over time (Beldomenico et al 2009), and by experimental manipulation of condition (e.g. by manipulating resources).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Condition, innate immunity and disease mortality of inbred crows

et al. 2010

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Cooperatively breeding American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) suffer a severe disease-mediated survival cost from inbreeding, but the proximate mechanisms linking inbreeding to disease are unknown. Here, we examine indices of nestling body condition and innate immunocompetence in relationship to inbreeding and disease mortality. Using an estimate of microsatellite heterozygosity that predicts inbreeding in this population, we show that inbred crows were in relatively poor condition as nestlings, and that body condition index measured in the first 2-33 days after hatching, in addition to inbreeding index, predicted disease probability in the first 34 months of life. Inbred nestlings also mounted a weaker response along one axis of innate immunity: the proportion of bacteria killed in a microbiocidal assay increased as heterozygosity index increased. Relatively poor body condition and low innate immunocompetence are two mechanisms that might predispose inbred crows to ultimate disease mortality. A better understanding of condition-mediated inbreeding depression can guide efforts to minimize disease costs of inbreeding in small populations.

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“…Because many pathogens can infect multiple host species, each of which may vary in its transmission competency, spatial variation in the relative abundance of diff erent hosts is also likely to be important in generating spatial variation in infection risk (States et al 2009). Similarly, factors such as body condition, or stress, that infl uence the risk of parasite infection for hosts, can also vary spatially as a result of diff erences in habitat quality (Beldomenico et al 2009) or as a function of conspecifi c or heterospecifi c density. Similarly, factors such as body condition, or stress, that infl uence the risk of parasite infection for hosts, can also vary spatially as a result of diff erences in habitat quality (Beldomenico et al 2009) or as a function of conspecifi c or heterospecifi c density.…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatial determinants of infection risk in a multi‐species avian malaria system

Lachish¹,

Knowles²,

Alves³

et al. 2012

Ecography

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Spatially-variable processes can be an important element of host -parasite interactions, but their longer term demographic and evolutionary eff ects depend on the magnitude of variation in space, the scale at which variation occurs and the degree to which such processes are temporally stable. Here, we use multiple years of data from a study of two closely related tit species (Paridae), infected with two congeneric species of avian malaria ( Plasmodium ), to evaluate the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic factors in driving spatial heterogeneity in infection risk, and to address questions of scale and temporal stability in these vector-driven host -parasite interactions. We show that the two malaria parasite species exhibit markedly diff erent spatial epidemiology: P. relictum infections are eff ectively randomly distributed in space, with no temporal consistency, whereas P . circumfl exum infections exhibit pronounced spatial structuring that is stable over the six years of this study and similar in both host species. We show that both conspecifi c and heterospecifi c host density contribute to elevated infection risk, but that the main determinants of elevated risk of P. circumfl exum infection risk are habitat features probably associated with vector distribution and abundance. We discuss the implications of these fi ndings, both for our understanding of the epidemiology of malaria in the wild, but also in terms of the longer-term evolutionary and demographic consequences that spatially variable parasite-mediated selection may have on host populations.

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Host condition and individual risk of cowpox virus infection in natural animal populations: cause or effect?

Cited by 27 publications

References 35 publications

The analysis of immunological profiles in wild animals: a case study on immunodynamics in the field vole, Microtus agrestis

The analysis of immunological profiles in wild animals: a case study on immunodynamics in the field vole, Microtus agrestis

Condition, innate immunity and disease mortality of inbred crows

Spatial determinants of infection risk in a multi‐species avian malaria system

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