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The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), like other arthropod-transmitted viruses, depends on specific vectors to complete its enzootic cycle. It has been long known that Ixodes ricinus ticks constitute the main vector for TBEV in Europe. In contrast to the wide distribution of the TBEV vector, the occ...

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Autores principales: Liebig, Katrin, Boelke, Mathias, Grund, Domenic, Schicht, Sabine, Bestehorn-Willmann, Malena, Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia, Dobler, Gerhard, Jung, Klaus, Becker, Stefanie C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7833397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33477924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010196
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author Liebig, Katrin
Boelke, Mathias
Grund, Domenic
Schicht, Sabine
Bestehorn-Willmann, Malena
Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia
Dobler, Gerhard
Jung, Klaus
Becker, Stefanie C.
author_facet Liebig, Katrin
Boelke, Mathias
Grund, Domenic
Schicht, Sabine
Bestehorn-Willmann, Malena
Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia
Dobler, Gerhard
Jung, Klaus
Becker, Stefanie C.
author_sort Liebig, Katrin
collection PubMed
description Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), like other arthropod-transmitted viruses, depends on specific vectors to complete its enzootic cycle. It has been long known that Ixodes ricinus ticks constitute the main vector for TBEV in Europe. In contrast to the wide distribution of the TBEV vector, the occurrence of TBEV transmission is focal and often restricted to a small parcel of land, whereas surrounding areas with seemingly similar habitat parameters are free of TBEV. Thus, the question arises which factors shape this focal distribution of TBEV in the natural habitat. To shed light on factors driving TBEV-focus formation, we used tick populations from two TBEV-foci in Lower Saxony and two TBEV-foci from Bavaria with their respective virus isolates as a showcase to analyze the impact of specific virus isolate-tick population relationships. Using artificial blood feeding and field-collected nymphal ticks as experimental means, our investigation showed that the probability of getting infected with the synonymous TBEV isolate as compared to the nonsynonymous TBEV isolate was elevated but significantly higher only in one of the four TBEV foci. More obviously, median viral RNA copy numbers were significantly higher in the synonymous virus–tick population pairings. These findings may present a hint for a coevolutionary adaptation of virus and tick populations.
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spelling pubmed-78333972021-01-26 The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match? Liebig, Katrin Boelke, Mathias Grund, Domenic Schicht, Sabine Bestehorn-Willmann, Malena Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia Dobler, Gerhard Jung, Klaus Becker, Stefanie C. Microorganisms Communication Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), like other arthropod-transmitted viruses, depends on specific vectors to complete its enzootic cycle. It has been long known that Ixodes ricinus ticks constitute the main vector for TBEV in Europe. In contrast to the wide distribution of the TBEV vector, the occurrence of TBEV transmission is focal and often restricted to a small parcel of land, whereas surrounding areas with seemingly similar habitat parameters are free of TBEV. Thus, the question arises which factors shape this focal distribution of TBEV in the natural habitat. To shed light on factors driving TBEV-focus formation, we used tick populations from two TBEV-foci in Lower Saxony and two TBEV-foci from Bavaria with their respective virus isolates as a showcase to analyze the impact of specific virus isolate-tick population relationships. Using artificial blood feeding and field-collected nymphal ticks as experimental means, our investigation showed that the probability of getting infected with the synonymous TBEV isolate as compared to the nonsynonymous TBEV isolate was elevated but significantly higher only in one of the four TBEV foci. More obviously, median viral RNA copy numbers were significantly higher in the synonymous virus–tick population pairings. These findings may present a hint for a coevolutionary adaptation of virus and tick populations. MDPI 2021-01-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7833397/ /pubmed/33477924 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010196 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Liebig, Katrin
Boelke, Mathias
Grund, Domenic
Schicht, Sabine
Bestehorn-Willmann, Malena
Chitimia-Dobler, Lidia
Dobler, Gerhard
Jung, Klaus
Becker, Stefanie C.
The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title_full The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title_fullStr The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title_full_unstemmed The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title_short The Stable Matching Problem in TBEV Enzootic Circulation: How Important Is the Perfect Tick-Virus Match?
title_sort stable matching problem in tbev enzootic circulation: how important is the perfect tick-virus match?
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7833397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33477924
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010196
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