Environmental radiation alters the gut microbiome of the bank vole Myodes glareolus.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lavrinienko A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6193954 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BACKGROUND: Chemical communication in mammals involves globular lipocalins that protect and transport pheromones during their passage out of the body. Efficient communication via this protein - pheromone complex is essential for triggering multiple responses including aggression, mate choice, copulatory behaviour, and onset and synchronization of oestrus. The roles of lipocalins in communication were studied in many organisms and especially in mice (i.e. Mus musculus domesticus) which excrete Major Urinary Proteins (Mup) in excessive amounts in saliva and urine. Other mammals, however, often lack the genes for Mups or their expression is very low. Therefore, we aimed at characterization of candidate lipocalins in Myodes glareolus which are potentially linked to chemical communication. One of them is Aphrodisin which is a unique lipocalin that was previously described from hamster vaginal discharge and is known to carry pheromones stimulating copulatory behaviour in males. RESULTS: Here we show that Aphrodisin-like proteins exist in other species, belong to a group of Odorant Binding Proteins (Obp), and contrary to the expression of Aphrodisin only in hamster genital tract and parotid glands of females, we have detected these transcripts in both sexes of M. glareolus with the expression confirmed in various tissues including prostate, prepucial and salivary glands, liver and uterus. On the level of mRNA, we have detected three different gene variants. To assess their relevance for chemical communication we investigated the occurrence of particular proteins in saliva, urine and vaginal discharge. On the protein level we confirmed the presence of Obp2 and Obp3 in both saliva and urine. Appropriate bands in the range of 17-20 kDa from vaginal discharge were, however, beyond the MS detection limits. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that three novel Obps (Obp1, Obp2, and Obp3) are predominant lipocalins in Myodes urine and saliva. On the protein level we have detected further variants and thus we assume that similarly as Major Urinary Proteins in mice, these proteins may be important in chemical communication in this Cricetid rodent.
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Project description:Campylobacter jejuni can be isolated from different animal hosts. Various studies have used multilocus sequence typing to look for associations between particular clones of C. jejuni and specific hosts. Here, we describe the isolation of a novel clone (sequence type 3704 [ST-3704]) of C. jejuni associated with the bank vole (Myodes glareolus).
| S-EPMC2976251 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Chemical signals are frequently utilised by male mammals for intersexual communication and females are often attracted to male scent. However, the mechanism underlying female attraction has only been identified in a small number of mammalian species. Mammalian scents contain airborne volatiles, that are detected by receivers at a distance from the scent source, as well as non-volatile molecules, such as proteins, that require physical contact for detection. Lipocalin proteins, produced within the scent secretions of many terrestrial mammals, are thought to be particularly important in chemical signalling. Here, we explore if the male-specific protein, glareosin, expressed by adult male bank voles, Myodes glareolus, stimulates female attraction to male scent. We show that female bank voles are more attracted to male compared to female scent, supporting the results of previous studies. Increased investigation and attraction to male scent occurred to both airborne volatiles and non-volatile proteins when they were presented separately. However, we found no evidence that attraction to male scent was driven by glareosin. Our results differ from those previously described in house mice, where a single protein induces female attraction to male scent, suggesting the mechanism underlying female attraction to male scent differs between species.
| S-EPMC10899570 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The urine of bank voles (Myodes glareolus) contains substantial quantities of a small protein that is expressed at much higher levels in males than females, and at higher levels in males in the breeding season. This protein was purified and completely sequenced at the protein level by mass spectrometry. Leucine/isoleucine ambiguity was completely resolved by metabolic labelling, monitoring the incorporation of dietary deuterated leucine into specific sites in the protein. The predicted mass of the sequenced protein was exactly consonant with the mass of the protein measured in bank vole urine samples, correcting for the formation of two disulfide bonds. The sequence of the protein revealed that it was a lipocalin related to aphrodisin and other odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), but differed from all OBPs previously described. The pattern of secretion in urine used for scent marking by male bank voles, and the similarity to other lipocalins used as chemical signals in rodents, suggest that this protein plays a role in male sexual and/or competitive communication. We propose the name glareosin for this novel protein to reflect the origin of the protein and to emphasize the distinction from known OBPs.
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Project description:The Escherichia marmotae is a bacterium of the Enterobacterales order, which was first isolated from the Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana). Recently E. marmotae has been shown to cause severe infections in humans. Wild animals were suggested to be a natural reservoir of this bacterium. The present study describes the first case of E. marmotae isolation from an apparently healthy wild bank vole (Myodes glareolus). Phenotype, as well as genotype-based techniques, were applied to characterize E. marmotae M-12 isolate. E. marmotae M-12 had the capsule-positive phenotype, high adhesion to human erythrocytes and HEp-2 cells as well as a low invasion into HEp-2 cells. E. marmotae M-12 was avirulent in mice. The phylogenomic analyses of E. marmotae showed dispersed phylogenetic structure among isolates of different origins. Virulome analysis of M-12 isolate revealed the presence of the following factors: siderophores, heme uptake systems, capsule synthesis, curli and type I fimbriae, flagella proteins, OmpA porin, etc. Comparative virulome analysis among available E. marmotae genomes revealed the presence of capsule K1 genes mostly in pathogenic isolates and OmpA porin presence among all strains. We assume that the K1 capsule and OmpA porin play a key role in the virulence of E. marmotae. Pathogenesis of the latter might be similar to extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli.
| S-EPMC10457355 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding the genetic basis of adaptive changes has been a major goal of evolutionary biology. In complex organisms without sequenced genomes, de novo transcriptome assembly using a longer read sequencing technology followed by expression profiling using short reads is likely to provide comprehensive identification of adaptive variation at the expression level and sequence polymorphisms in coding regions. We performed sequencing and de novo assembly of the bank vole heart transcriptome in lines selected for high metabolism and unselected controls.ResultsA single 454 Titanium run produced over million reads, which were assembled into 63,581 contigs. Searches against the SwissProt protein database and the ENSEMBL collection of mouse transcripts detected similarity to 11,181 and 14,051 genes, respectively. As judged by the representation of genes from the heart-related Gene Ontology categories and UniGenes detected in the mouse heart, our detection of the genes expressed in the heart was nearly complete (> 95% and almost 90% respectively). On average, 38.7% of the transcript length was covered by our sequences, with notably higher (45.0%) coverage of coding regions than of untranslated regions (24.5% of 5' and 32.7% of 3'UTRs). Lower sequence conservation between mouse and bank vole in untranslated regions was found to be partially responsible for poorer UTR representation. Our data might suggest a widespread transcription from noncoding genomic regions, a finding not reported in previous studies regarding transcriptomes in non-model organisms. We also identified over 19 thousand putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A much higher fraction of the SNPs than expected by chance exhibited variant frequency differences between selection regimes.ConclusionLonger reads and higher sequence yield per run provided by the 454 Titanium technology in comparison to earlier generations of pyrosequencing proved beneficial for the quality of assembly. An almost full representation of genes known to be expressed in the mouse heart was identified. Usage of the extensive genomic resources available for the house mouse, a moderately (20-40 mln years) divergent relative of the voles, enabled a comprehensive assessment of the transcript completeness. Transcript sequences generated in the present study allowed the identification of candidate SNPs associated with divergence of selection lines and constitute a valuable permanent resource forming a foundation for RNAseq experiments aiming at detection of adaptive changes both at the level of gene expression and sequence variants, that would facilitate studies of the genetic basis of evolutionary divergence.
| S-EPMC2996923 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Microevolution of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) was studied throughout a population cycle of its host, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). We monitored PUUV variants circulating in the host population in Central Finland over a five-year period that included two peak-phases and two population declines. Of 1369 bank voles examined, 360 (26.3%) were found infected with PUUV. Partial sequences of each of the three genome segments were recovered (approx. 12% of PUUV genome) from 356 bank voles. Analyses of these sequences disclosed the following features of PUUV evolution: 1) nucleotide substitutions are mostly silent and deduced amino acid changes are mainly conservative, suggesting stabilizing selection at the protein level; 2) the three genome segments accumulate mutations at a different rate; 3) some of the circulating PUUV variants are frequently observed while others are transient; 4) frequently occurring PUUV variants are composed of the most abundant segment genotypes (copious) and new transient variants are continually generated; 5) reassortment of PUUV genome segments occurs regularly and follows a specific pattern of segments association; 6) prevalence of reassortant variants oscillates with season and is higher in the autumn than in the spring; and 7) reassortants are transient, i.e., they are not competitively superior to their parental variants. Collectively, these observations support a quasi-neutral mode of PUUV microevolution with a steady generation of transient variants, including reassortants, and preservation of a few preferred genotypes.
| S-EPMC3661530 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Numerous rodent species have been broadly examined for Sarcocystis parasites. Nevertheless, recent investigations on Sarcocystis spp. in voles are lacking. As many as 45 bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) captured in several locations in Lithuania were examined in the present study. Based on morphological, genetic, and phylogenetic results, sarcocysts detected in one bank vole were described as Sarcocystis myodes n. sp. Using light microscopy analysis, the observed sarcocysts were ribbon-shaped, 6000−3000 × 70−220 µm in size. Sarcocysts were characterized by a relatively thin (about 1 μm) and apparently smooth cyst wall. The lancet-shaped bradyzoites were 9.6−12.0 × 3.1−4.6 μm in size. By transmission electron microscopy, the sarcocyst wall was up to 1 μm thick, parasitophorous vacuolar membrane had small knob-like blebs. Based on 18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, cox1, rpoB, and ITS1 loci, S. myodes showed highest similarity with S. ratti from the black rat (Rattus rattus). According to phylogenetic placement, S. myodes was most closely related to Sarcocystis spp. that employ predatory mammals as their definitive hosts. Morphologically, sarcocysts of S. myodes have similar features to those of S. cernae, S. dirumpens, and S. montanaensis described in voles, however, they use birds of prey or snakes as their definitive hosts.
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Project description:Rodent species like Myodes glareolus and Microtus spp. are natural reservoirs for many zoonotic pathogens causing human diseases and are gaining increasing interest in the field of eco-immunology as candidate animal models. Despite their importance the lack of immunological reagents has hampered research in these animal species. Here we report the recombinant production and functional characterization of IFN-?, a central mediator of host's innate and adaptive immune responses, from the bank vole M. glareolus. Soluble dimeric recMgIFN-? was purified in high yield from Escherichia coli. Its activity on M. glareolus and Microtus arvalis kidney cell lines was assessed by immunofluorescent detection of nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of the transcription factor STAT1. RecMgIFN-? also induced expression of an IFN-?-regulated innate immunity gene. Inhibition of vesicular stomatitis virus replication in vole cells upon recMgIFN-? treatment provided further evidence of its biological activity. Finally, we established a recMgIFN-?-responsive bank vole reporter cell line that allows the sensitive titration of the cytokine activity via a bioluminescence reporter assay. Taken together, we report valuable tools for future investigations on the immune response against zoonotic pathogens in their natural animal hosts, which might foster the development of novel animal models.
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Project description:Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) infects bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in nature, but the relevance of rodents for TBEV transmission and maintenance is unclear. We infected colonized bank voles subcutaneously to study and compare the infection kinetics, acute infection, and potential viral persistence of the three known TBEV subtypes: European (TBEV-Eur), Siberian (TBEV-Sib) and Far Eastern (TBEV-FE). All strains representing the three subtypes were infective and highly neurotropic. They induced (meningo)encephalitis in some of the animals, however most of the cases did not present with apparent clinical symptoms. TBEV-RNA was cleared significantly slower from the brain as compared to other organs studied. Supporting our earlier findings in natural rodent populations, TBEV-RNA could be detected in the brain for up to 168 days post infection, but we could not demonstrate infectivity by cell culture isolation. Throughout all time points post infection, RNA of the TBEV-FE was detected significantly more often than RNA of the other two strains in all organs studied. TBEV-FE also induced prolonged viremia, indicating distinctive kinetics in rodents in comparison to the other two subtypes. This study shows that bank voles can develop a neuroinvasive TBEV infection with persistence of viral RNA in brain, and mount an anti-TBEV IgG response. The findings also provide further evidence that bank voles can serve as sentinels for TBEV endemicity.
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