Pathogen community composition and co-infection patterns in a wild community of rodents
Résumé
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 ro-
dents, including 11 host species from diverse habitats. Rodents were screened for virus expo-
sure (hantaviruses, cowpox virus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, Tick-borne encephalitis
virus) using antibody assays. Bacterial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA am-
plicon sequencing of splenic samples. Multiple correspondence (MCA), multiple regression
and association screening (SCN) analyses were used to determine the degree to which ex-
trinsic 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. Aggre-
gation of pathogens responsible for zoonotic diseases suggests that some rodent species may
be more important for transmission risk than others. Moreover, we detected positive asso-
ciations 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.
Mots clés
Tick-borne encephalitis virus
Bacteria
16S rRNA amplicon sequencing
Extrinsic factors
Pathogen community composition
Pathogen diversity
Co-infection
Transmission risk
Pathogen-pathogen associations
Host specificity
Pathogens
Rodents
Reservoirs
Zoonotic diseases
Northern France
Rodent communities
Viruses
Virus exposure
Hantaviruses
Cowpox virus
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus
Domaines
Ecologie, Environnement
Fichier principal
10_24072_pcjournal_370.pdf (2.08 Mo)
Télécharger le fichier
GasquiPatrick_PeerCommunityJournal_2024.pdf (2.08 Mo)
Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
licence : CC BY - Paternité