Effect of resource availability on evolution of virulence and competition in an environmentally transmitted pathogen
Pulkkinen, K., Pekkala, N., Ashrafi, R., Hämäläinen, D. M., Nkembeng, A. N., Lipponen, A., Hiltunen, T., Valkonen, J., & Taskinen, J. (2018). Effect of resource availability on evolution of virulence and competition in an environmentally transmitted pathogen. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 94(5), fiy060. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiy060
Published inFEMS Microbiology Ecology
DisciplineEkologia ja evoluutiobiologiaAkvaattiset tieteetBiologisten vuorovaikutusten huippututkimusyksikköEcology and Evolutionary BiologyAquatic SciencesCentre of Excellence in Biological Interactions Research
© FEMS 2018.
Understanding ecological and epidemiological factors driving pathogen evolution in contemporary time scales is a major challenge in modern health management. Pathogens that replicate outside the hosts are subject to selection imposed by ambient environmental conditions. Increased nutrient levels could increase pathogen virulence by pre-adapting for efficient use of resources upon contact to a nutrient rich host or by favouring transmission of fast-growing virulent strains. We measured changes in virulence and competition in Flavobacterium columnare, a bacterial pathogen of freshwater fish, under high and low nutrient levels. To test competition between strains in genotype mixtures, we developed a quantitative real-time PCR assay. We found that a virulent strain maintained its virulence and outcompeted less virulent strains independent of the nutrient level and resource renewal rate while a less virulent strain further lost virulence in chemostats under low nutrient level and over long-term serial culture under high nutrient level. Our results suggest that increased outside-host nutrient levels might maintain virulence in less virulent strains and increase their contribution to epidemics in aquaculture. The results highlight a need to further explore the role of resource in the outside-host environment in maintaining strain diversity and driving evolution of virulence among environmentally growing pathogens. ...
PublisherFederation of European Microbiological Societies; Oxford University Press
Publication in research information system
MetadataShow full item record
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
Genetic and environmental factors associated with the virulence of fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare Penttinen, Reetta (University of Jyväskylä, 2016)
The influence of infective dose, nutrient availability and coinfection on virulence of Flavobacterium columnare : implications of intensive aquaculture on opportunistic infections Kinnula, Hanna (University of Jyväskylä, 2016)Ecological factors are known to affect disease dynamics and even lead to disease emergence. Especially in opportunistic, environmentally transmitted pathogens, the environment may significantly contribute to pathogen ...
Effect of nutrients on competition between a virulent and a less virulent strain of the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare Hämäläinen, Dorrit (2016)Patogeenit ovat haitallisia eliöitä, jotka tarvitsevat isäntää saadakseen tarvittavia ravinteita. Patogeenin haitallisuutta kutsutaan virulenssiksi, ja se on tärkeä osuus patogeeni-isäntä–suhteessa. Virulenssia säädellään ...
Prevalence of genetically similar Flavobacterium columnare phages across aquaculture environments reveals a strong potential for pathogen control Runtuvuori‐Salmela, A.; Kunttu, H. M. T.; Laanto, E.; Almeida, G. M. F.; Mäkelä, K.; Middelboe, M.; Sundberg, L‐R. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022)Intensive aquaculture conditions expose fish to bacterial infections, leading to significant financial losses, extensive antibiotic use and risk of antibiotic resistance in target bacteria. Flavobacterium columnare causes ...
Virulence evolution and immune defence : pathogen-host interactions between an environmentally transmitted bacterium Serratia marcescens and its insect hosts Mikonranta, Lauri (University of Jyväskylä, 2015)