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Similar evolutionary potentials in an obligate ant parasite and its two host species.

ABSTRACT: The spatial structure of host-parasite coevolution is shaped by population structure and genetic diversity of the interacting species. We analysed these population genetic parameters in three related ant species: the parasitic slavemaking ant Protomognathus americanus and its two host species Temnothorax longispinosus and T. curvispinosus. We sampled throughout their range, genotyped ants on six to eight microsatellite loci and an MtDNA sequence and found high levels of genetic variation and strong population structure in all three species. Interestingly, the most abundant species and primary host, T. longispinosus, is characterized by less structure, but lower local genetic diversity. Generally, differences between the species were small, and we conclude that they have similar evolutionary potentials. The coevolutionary interaction between this social parasite and its hosts may therefore be less influenced by divergent evolutionary potentials, but rather by varying selection pressures. We employed different methods to quantify and compare genetic diversity and structure between species and genetic markers. We found that Jost D is well suited for these comparisons, as long as mutation rates between markers and species are similar. If this is not the case, for example, when using MtDNA and microsatellites to study sex-specific dispersal, model-based inference should be used instead of descriptive statistics (such as D or G(ST) ). Using coalescent-based methods, we indeed found that males disperse much more than females, but this sex bias in dispersal differed between species. The findings of the different approaches with regard to genetic diversity and structure were in good accordance with each other.

SUBMITTER: Pennings PS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3085125 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Similar evolutionary potentials in an obligate ant parasite and its two host species.

Pennings P S PS Achenbach A A Foitzik S S

Journal of evolutionary biology 20110216 4

The spatial structure of host-parasite coevolution is shaped by population structure and genetic diversity of the interacting species. We analysed these population genetic parameters in three related ant species: the parasitic slavemaking ant Protomognathus americanus and its two host species Temnothorax longispinosus and T. curvispinosus. We sampled throughout their range, genotyped ants on six to eight microsatellite loci and an MtDNA sequence and found high levels of genetic variation and str ...[more]

PMID: 21324025

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Project description:BACKGROUND: A compelling demonstration of adaptation by natural selection is the ability of parasites to manipulate host behavior. One dramatic example involves fungal species from the genus Ophiocordyceps that control their ant hosts by inducing a biting behavior. Intensive sampling across the globe of ants that died after being manipulated by Ophiocordyceps suggests that this phenomenon is highly species-specific. We advance our understanding of this system by reconstructing host manipulation by Ophiocordyceps parasites under controlled laboratory conditions and combining this with field observations of infection rates and a metabolomics survey. RESULTS: We report on a newly discovered species of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato from North America that we use to address the species-specificity of Ophiocordyceps-induced manipulation of ant behavior. We show that the fungus can kill all ant species tested, but only manipulates the behavior of those it infects in nature. To investigate if this could be explained at the molecular level, we used ex vivo culturing assays to measure the metabolites that are secreted by the fungus to mediate fungus-ant tissue interactions. We show the fungus reacts heterogeneously to brains of different ant species by secreting a different array of metabolites. By determining which ion peaks are significantly enriched when the fungus is grown alongside brains of its naturally occurring host, we discovered candidate compounds that could be involved in behavioral manipulation by O. unilateralis s.l.. Two of these candidates are known to be involved in neurological diseases and cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The integrative work presented here shows that ant brain manipulation by O. unilateralis s.l. is species-specific seemingly because the fungus produces a specific array of compounds as a reaction to the presence of the host brain it has evolved to manipulate. These studies have resulted in the discovery of candidate compounds involved in establishing behavioral manipulation by this specialized fungus and therefore represent a major advancement towards an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon.

Project description:Undertaking certain activities at the time of day that maximises fitness is assumed to explain the evolution of circadian clocks. Organisms often use daily environmental cues such as light and food availability to set the timing of their clocks. These cues may be the environmental rhythms that ultimately determine fitness, act as proxies for the timing of less tractable ultimate drivers, or are used simply to maintain internal synchrony. While many pathogens/parasites undertake rhythmic activities, both the proximate and ultimate drivers of their rhythms are poorly understood. Explaining the roles of rhythms in infections offers avenues for novel interventions to interfere with parasite fitness and reduce the severity and spread of disease. Here, we perturb several rhythms in the hosts of malaria parasites to investigate why parasites align their rhythmic replication to the host's feeding-fasting rhythm. We manipulated host rhythms governed by light, food or both, and assessed the fitness implications for parasites, and the consequences for hosts, to test which host rhythms represent ultimate drivers of the parasite's rhythm. We found that alignment with the host's light-driven rhythms did not affect parasite fitness metrics. In contrast, aligning with the timing of feeding-fasting rhythms may be beneficial for the parasite, but only when the host possess a functional canonical circadian clock. Because parasites in clock-disrupted hosts align with the host's feeding-fasting rhythms and yet derive no apparent benefit, our results suggest cue(s) from host food act as a proxy rather than being a key selective driver of the parasite's rhythm. Alternatively, parasite rhythmicity may only be beneficial because it promotes synchrony between parasite cells and/or allows parasites to align to the biting rhythms of vectors. Our results also suggest that interventions can disrupt parasite rhythms by targeting the proxies or the selective factors driving them without impacting host health.

Project description:BackgroundHost-parasite protein interactions (HPPI) are those interactions occurring between a parasite and its host. Host-parasite protein interaction enhances the understanding of how parasite can infect its host. The interaction plays an important role in initiating infections, although it is not all host-parasite interactions that result in infection. Identifying the protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that allow a parasite to infect its host has a lot do in discovering possible drug targets. Such PPIs, when altered, would prevent the host from being infected by the parasite and in some cases, result in the parasite inability to complete specific stages of its life cycle and invariably lead to the death of such parasite. It therefore becomes important to understand the workings of host-parasite interactions which are the major causes of most infectious diseases.ObjectiveMany studies have been conducted in literature to predict HPPI, mostly using computational methods with few experimental methods. Computational method has proved to be faster and more efficient in manipulating and analyzing real life data. This study looks at various computational methods used in literature for host-parasite/inter-species protein-protein interaction predictions with the hope of getting a better insight into computational methods used and identify whether machine learning approaches have been extensively used for the same purpose.MethodsThe various methods involved in host-parasite protein interactions were reviewed with their individual strengths. Tabulations of studies that carried out host-parasite/inter-species protein interaction predictions were performed, analyzing their predictive methods, filters used, potential protein-protein interactions discovered in those studies and various validation measurements used as the case may be. The commonly used measurement indexes for such studies were highlighted displaying the various formulas. Finally, future prospects of studies specific to human-plasmodium falciparum PPI predictions were proposed.ResultWe discovered that quite a few studies reviewed implemented machine learning approach for HPPI predictions when compared with methods such as sequence homology search and protein structure and domain-motif. The key challenge well noted in HPPI predictions is getting relevant information.ConclusionThis review presents useful knowledge and future directions on the subject matter.

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Similar evolutionary potentials in an obligate ant parasite and its two host species.

Publications

Similar evolutionary potentials in an obligate ant parasite and its two host species.

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