Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents

Rodents are major reservoirs of pathogens that can cause disease in humans and livestock. It is therefore important to know what pathogens naturally circulate in rodent populations, and to understand the factors that may influence their distribution in the wild. Here, we describe the occurrence and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abbate, Jessica L., Galan, Maxime, Razzauti, Maria, Sironen, Tarja, Voutilainen, Liina, Henttonen, Heikki, Gasqui, Patrick, Cosson, Jean-François, Charbonnel, Nathalie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peer Community In 2024-02-01
Series:Peer Community Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.370/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1825206406144327680
author Abbate, Jessica L.
Galan, Maxime
Razzauti, Maria
Sironen, Tarja
Voutilainen, Liina
Henttonen, Heikki
Gasqui, Patrick
Cosson, Jean-François
Charbonnel, Nathalie
author_facet Abbate, Jessica L.
Galan, Maxime
Razzauti, Maria
Sironen, Tarja
Voutilainen, Liina
Henttonen, Heikki
Gasqui, Patrick
Cosson, Jean-François
Charbonnel, Nathalie
author_sort Abbate, Jessica L.
collection DOAJ
description Rodents are major reservoirs of pathogens that can cause disease in humans and livestock. It is therefore important to know what pathogens naturally circulate in rodent populations, and to understand the factors that may influence their distribution in the wild. Here, we describe the occurrence and distribution patterns of a range of endemic and zoonotic pathogens circulating among rodent communities in northern France. The community sample consisted of 713 rodents, including 11 host species from diverse habitats. Rodents were screened for virus exposure (hantaviruses, cowpox virus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Tick-borne encephalitis virus) using antibody assays. Bacterial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of splenic samples. Multiple correspondence (MCA), multiple regression and association screening (SCN) analyses were used to determine the degree to which extrinsic factors (study year and site; host habitat, species, sex and age class) contributed to pathogen community structure, and to identify patterns of associations between pathogens within hosts. We found a rich diversity of bacterial genera, with 36 known or suspected to be pathogenic. We revealed that host species is the most important determinant of pathogen community composition, and that hosts that share habitats can have very different pathogen communities. Pathogen diversity and co-infection rates also vary among host species. Aggregation of pathogens responsible for zoonotic diseases suggests that some rodent species may be more important for transmission risk than others. Moreover, we detected positive associations between several pathogens, including Bartonella, Mycoplasma species, Cowpox virus (CPXV) and hantaviruses, and these patterns were generally specific to particular host species. Altogether, our results suggest that host and pathogen specificity is the most important driver of pathogen community structure, and that interspecific pathogen-pathogen associations also depend on host species.
format Article
id doaj-art-7ba154179df74b53bd05d55f490f2ce1
institution Kabale University
issn 2804-3871
language English
publishDate 2024-02-01
publisher Peer Community In
record_format Article
series Peer Community Journal
spelling doaj-art-7ba154179df74b53bd05d55f490f2ce12025-02-07T10:17:18ZengPeer Community InPeer Community Journal2804-38712024-02-01410.24072/pcjournal.37010.24072/pcjournal.370Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents Abbate, Jessica L.0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2485-3334Galan, Maxime1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6981-5732Razzauti, Maria2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9412-8851Sironen, Tarja3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2344-2755Voutilainen, Liina4https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5966-0815Henttonen, Heikki5Gasqui, Patrick6Cosson, Jean-François7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0863-5871Charbonnel, Nathalie8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7907-6539CBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France; UMR MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France; UMR UMMISCO, IRD, UPMC, UMI, Bondy, France; Geomatys, Montpellier, FranceCBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceCBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceDepartment of Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), FI-00790 Helsinki, FinlandNatural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), FI-00790 Helsinki, FinlandUMR EPIA, INRAE, VetAgro Sup, Theix, FranceCBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, France; UMR BIPAR, ENVA, INRAE, ANSES, Maisons-Alfort, FranceCBGP, INRAE, CIRAD, Institut Agro, IRD, Univ Montpellier, Montpellier, FranceRodents are major reservoirs of pathogens that can cause disease in humans and livestock. It is therefore important to know what pathogens naturally circulate in rodent populations, and to understand the factors that may influence their distribution in the wild. Here, we describe the occurrence and distribution patterns of a range of endemic and zoonotic pathogens circulating among rodent communities in northern France. The community sample consisted of 713 rodents, including 11 host species from diverse habitats. Rodents were screened for virus exposure (hantaviruses, cowpox virus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Tick-borne encephalitis virus) using antibody assays. Bacterial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of splenic samples. Multiple correspondence (MCA), multiple regression and association screening (SCN) analyses were used to determine the degree to which extrinsic factors (study year and site; host habitat, species, sex and age class) contributed to pathogen community structure, and to identify patterns of associations between pathogens within hosts. We found a rich diversity of bacterial genera, with 36 known or suspected to be pathogenic. We revealed that host species is the most important determinant of pathogen community composition, and that hosts that share habitats can have very different pathogen communities. Pathogen diversity and co-infection rates also vary among host species. Aggregation of pathogens responsible for zoonotic diseases suggests that some rodent species may be more important for transmission risk than others. Moreover, we detected positive associations between several pathogens, including Bartonella, Mycoplasma species, Cowpox virus (CPXV) and hantaviruses, and these patterns were generally specific to particular host species. Altogether, our results suggest that host and pathogen specificity is the most important driver of pathogen community structure, and that interspecific pathogen-pathogen associations also depend on host species. https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.370/16S rRNA amplicon high throughput sequencingDisease EcologyMicrobial InteractionsPathobiomeRodent reservoirsZoonoses
spellingShingle Abbate, Jessica L.
Galan, Maxime
Razzauti, Maria
Sironen, Tarja
Voutilainen, Liina
Henttonen, Heikki
Gasqui, Patrick
Cosson, Jean-François
Charbonnel, Nathalie
Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
Peer Community Journal
16S rRNA amplicon high throughput sequencing
Disease Ecology
Microbial Interactions
Pathobiome
Rodent reservoirs
Zoonoses
title Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
title_full Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
title_fullStr Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
title_full_unstemmed Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
title_short Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
title_sort pathogen community composition and co infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
topic 16S rRNA amplicon high throughput sequencing
Disease Ecology
Microbial Interactions
Pathobiome
Rodent reservoirs
Zoonoses
url https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.370/
work_keys_str_mv AT abbatejessical pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT galanmaxime pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT razzautimaria pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT sironentarja pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT voutilainenliina pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT henttonenheikki pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT gasquipatrick pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT cossonjeanfrancois pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents
AT charbonnelnathalie pathogencommunitycompositionandcoinfectionpatternsinawildcommunityofrodents