Functional redundancy and ecological innovation shape the circulation of tick-transmitted pathogens

0479552 - BC 2018 RIV CH eng J - Journal Article
Estrada-Peña, A. - de la Fuente, J. - Cabezas Cruz, Alejandro
Functional redundancy and ecological innovation shape the circulation of tick-transmitted pathogens.
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. Roč. 7, MAY (2017), č. článku 234. ISSN 2235-2988. E-ISSN 2235-2988
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 278976 - ANTIGONE
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : communities * networks * tick-borne pathogens * ticks
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 3.520, year: 2017
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00234/full

Ticks are vectors of pathogens affecting human and animal health worldwide. Nevertheless, the ecological and evolutionary interactions between ticks, hosts, and pathogens are largely unknown. Here, we integrated a framework to evaluate the associations of the tick Ixodes ricinus with its hosts and environmental niches that impact pathogen circulation. The analysis of tick-hosts association suggested that mammals and lizards were the ancestral hosts of this tick species, and that a leap to Aves occurred around 120 M years ago. The signature of the environmental variables over the host's phylogeny revealed the existence of two clades of vertebrates diverging along a temperature and vegetation split. This is a robust proof that the tick probably experienced a colonization of new niches by adapting to a large set of new hosts, Aves. Interestingly, the colonization of Aves as hosts did not increase significantly the ecological niche of I. ricinus, but remarkably Aves are super-spreaders of pathogens. The disparate contribution of Aves to the tick-host-pathogen networks revealed that I. ricinus evolved to maximize habitat overlap with some hosts that are super-spreaders of pathogens. These results supported the hypothesis that large host networks are not a requirement of tick survival but pathogen circulation. The biological cost of tick adaptation to non-optimal environmental conditions might be balanced by molecular mechanisms triggered by the pathogens that we have only begun to understand.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0275535