VIRULENCE

Why do parasites harm their hosts? Intuition suggests that parasites should evolve to be benign whenever the host is needed for transmission. Yet a growing theoretical literature offers several models to explain why natural selection may favor virulent parasites over avirulent ones. This perspective first organizes these models into a simple framework and then evaluates the empirical evidence for and against the models. There is relatively scant evidence to support any of the models rigorously, and indeed, there are only a few unequivocal observations of virulence actually evolving in parasite populations. These shortcomings are surmountable, however, and empirical models of host-parasite interactions have been developed for many kinds of pathogens so that the relevant data could be acquired in the near future.     

病原弧菌的致病机理

由弧菌属细菌 (Vibriospp.)引起的弧菌病 (Vibriosis)是在世界各地海水养殖鱼、虾、贝类等动物中普遍流行、危害最大的细菌性疾病。在已知的弧菌中,有 10多种是海洋养殖动物的病原菌。长期以来,人们对病原弧菌的致病性研究一直是利用分离菌株对养殖动物进行各种方式的人工感染,通过观察实验动物是否发病来判断病原弧菌的致病性,而对弧菌病的发生、发展等过程缺乏深入的了解。由于对病原弧菌致病机理的研究最终将会为弧菌病的防治提供可靠的科学依据,近十年来,对病原弧菌的致病机理研究已成为对弧菌病研究的重点和最活跃的研究领域,研究工作主要包括对常见的病原弧菌在养殖动物体内外环境中的生       

SUBOPTIMAL VIRULENCE OF AN INSECT-PARASITIC NEMATODE

Recent considerations of parasite virulence have focused on the adverse effects that parasites can have on the survival of their hosts. Many parasites, however, reduce host fitness by an equally deleterious but different means, by causing partial or complete sterility of their hosts. A model of optimal parasite virulence is developed in which a quantity of host resources can be allocated to either host or parasite reproduction. Increases in parasite reproduction thus cause reductions in host fertility. The model shows that under a wide variety of ecological conditions, such parasites should completely sterilize their hosts. Only when opportunities for horizontal transmission are very limited should the parasites appropriate less than all of a host's reproductive resources. Field and laboratory evidence shows that the nematode parasite Howardula aoronymphium is relatively avirulent to one of its principal host species, Drosophila falleni, whereas it is much more virulent to D. putrida and D. neotestacea, suggesting that there may be substantial vertical transmission in D. falleni. However, epidemiological studies in the field and laboratory assays of host specificity strongly suggest that the three host species share a single parasite pool in natural populations, indicating that parasites in all three host species experience high levels of horizontal transmission. Thus, the low virulence of H. aoronymphium to D. falleni is not consistent with the model of optimal parasite virulence. It is proposed that this suboptimal virulence in D. falleni is a consequence of populations of H. aoronymphium being selected to exploit simultaneously several different host species. As a result, virulence may not be optimal in any one host. One must, therefore, consider the full range of host species in assessing a parasite's virulence.     

ESTABLISHING GENETIC CORRELATIONS INVOLVING PARASITE VIRULENCE

For many host-parasite interactions, virulence is necessarily affected by population densities, transmission biology of the parasite, and proliferation of the parasite at the expense of its host. Attempts to experimentally demonstrate genetic correlations involving virulence therefore need to employ protocols controlling for variation in the number of successful infections (i.e., the end-point of transmissibility). If protocols are not controlled, then correlations may be spurious, as appears to be the case in recent experimental studies by Ebert (1994) and Ebert and Magnin (1997). There is a need to explore the modes of the evolution of each of the many sequential steps in nonsymbiotic and symbiotic phases of host-parasite associations and the implication of such evolution for overall virulence. I argue that it is the interdependence of these sequential steps (and not overall virulence) that should be at the center of attempts to establish genetic correlations.     

褐飞虱致害性变异过程及其体内酶的变化

在室内连续用具不同抗虫基因的水稻品种TNl、IR26、Mudg。和ASD7、单管饲养褐飞虱(Nilaparvata lugens)种群,研究它对抗虫水稻品种的适应过程及其体内酶的变化规律。 结果表明：褐飞虱在抗虫品种上取食2代的若虫存活率、若虫历期和短翅成虫体重均明显比取食感虫品种TNl的低,第3代以后与取食TNl者基本相同。第2代是褐飞虱适应抗虫品种的关键期。天冬氨酸氨基转移酶(AST)、丙氨酸氨基转移酶(ALT)和丁-谷氨酰基转移 酶(GGT)的活性在关键的第2代最低,而超氧物歧化酶(SOD)和过氧化氢酶(CAT)的含量增加。褐飞虱在适应抗虫品种以后体内天冬氨酸氨基转移酶活性明显提高。     

HOST LIFE HISTORY AND THE EVOLUTION OF PARASITE VIRULENCE

Abstract.— We present a general epidemiological model of host‐parasite interactions that includes various forms of superinfection. We use this model to study the effects of different host life‐history traits on the evolution of parasite virulence. In particular, we analyze the effects of natural host death rate on the evolutionarily stable parasite virulence. We show that, contrary to classical predictions, an increase in the natural host death rate may select for lower parasite virulence if some form of superinfection occurs. This result is in agreement with the experimental results and the verbal argument presented by Ebert and Mangin (1997). This experiment is discussed in the light of the present model. We also point out the importance of superinfections for the effect of nonspecific immunity on the evolution of virulence. In a broader perspective, this model demonstrates that the occurrence of multiple infections may qualitatively alter classical predictions concerning the effects of various host life‐history traits on the evolution of parasite virulence.     

嗜水气单胞菌毒力基因的研究进展

嗜水气单胞菌(Aeromonas hydrophila)隶属于气单胞菌科(Aermonadaceae)气单胞菌属(Aeromonas),为人、畜及水生动物共患的条件致病菌。该菌广泛存在于水环境中,是多种水产动物的主要致病菌。国内外学者对其进行了许多研究,现普遍认为嗜水气单胞菌的致病性与其产生的毒素密切相关。随着分子生物技术的发展,已有许多学者从分子水平上对嗜水气单胞菌进行了研究,为阐明嗜水气单胞菌的致病机理提供了一些理论依据,并建立起针对几种主要毒力因子的检测手段。本文将嗜水气单胞菌目前的研究策略、部分主要毒力因子及其检测手段作一综述,以期为嗜水气单胞菌致病机理的研究及嗜水气单胞菌病的防治提供参考和借鉴。       

PARASITE CO‐TRANSMISSION AND THE EVOLUTIONARY EPIDEMIOLOGY OF VIRULENCE

Hosts are often co‐infected by several parasite genotypes of the same species or even by different species and this is known to affect virulence evolution. However, epidemiological models typically assume that only one of the co‐infecting strains can be transmitted at the same time, which is often at odds with the observed biology. Here, I study the effect of co‐transmission on virulence evolution in a case where parasites compete for host resources. For co‐infections by strains of the same species, increased co‐transmission selects for less virulent strains. This is because co‐transmission aligns the interests of co‐infecting strains, thus decreasing the selective pressure for increased within‐host competitiveness. For co‐infection caused by different parasite species, the evolutionary outcome depends on the respective virulence of the two parasite species. Finally, I investigate asymmetric scenarios, for example that of plant viruses that require “helper” molecules produced by viruses from another species to be transmitted. These results show that even if parasite strains compete for host resources, the prevalence of co‐infections can be a poor predictor of virulence evolution.     

7株绿僵菌防治德国小蠊的毒力筛选

本文用7个绿僵菌(Metarhizium)菌株对德国小蠊Blattella germanica(Linnaeus)进行注射生测,筛选出了一个致病菌株进行五代复壮选育.该株绿僵菌Metarhizium anisopli-ae(Metsch)Sorokin复壮前对雌雄成虫注射生测LD50依次为13.2与8.9天;复壮后对雌雄成虫背部点滴生测12天的LD50值均为1.3×105孢子/虫.通过CP包埋剂制作石蜡切片对僵虫体内菌丝核和体表孢子堆进行了观察.     

板栗疫病菌致病力分化的研究

中国板栗(Castanea mollissima Blume)对板栗疫病菌(Cryphonectria parasitica(Murr.)Barr)具有强的抗病力。但近十多年来,我国许多省份均发现有板栗疫病,据调查,广西有19个县市存在栗疫病,有的地方发病还相当严重。为了解释疫病发生的上述情况,并为生产和该病菌的更深入研究提供指导,作者在广西桂林、南宁、柳州、梧州、河池等地收集菌株,对疫病菌致病性的分化进行了研究,现将结果报道如下。 1 材料和方法 1.1 毒力参照菌株 法国已知弱毒株EPF为毒力参照株。 1.2 栗疫病菌的采集、分离和单孢纯化 1.2.1 标本采集:1988年12月～1989年6月,采自广西桂林、南宁、柳州、梧州、河池等地板栗病株。 1.2.2 菌株分离和纯化:将病枝或病树皮,用经灯焰灼烧过的刀片削去表皮,取坏死内皮约5×5mm^2,压于PDA上,28℃,光照培养,产孢后用微块法进行单孢纯化。 1.3     

THE EVOLUTION OF VIRULENCE IN PATHOGENS WITH VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION

The idea that vertical transmission of parasites selects for lower virulence is widely accepted. However, little theoretical work has considered the evolution of virulence for parasites with mixed horizontal plus vertical transmission. Many human, animal, and plant parasites are transmitted both vertically and horizontally, and some horizontal transmission is generally necessary to maintain parasites at all. We present a population-dynamical model for the evolution of virulence when both vertical and horizontal transmission are present. In the simplest such model, up to two infectious strains can coexist within one host population. Virulent, vertically transmitted pathogens can persist in a population when they provide protection against more virulent, horizontally transmitted strains. When virulence is maintained by a correlation with horizontal transmission rates, increased levels of vertical transmission always lower the evolutionarily stable (ESS) level of virulence. Contrary to existing theory, however, increases in opportunities for horizontal transmission also lower the ESS level of virulence. We explain these findings in light of earlier work and confirm them in simulations including imperfect vertical transmission. We describe further simulations, in which both vertical and horizontal transmission rates are allowed to evolve. The outcome of these simulations depends on whether high levels of vertical transmission are possible with low virulence. Finally, we argue against the notion of a virulence-avirulence continuum between horizontal and vertical transmission, and discuss our results in relation to empirical studies of transmission and virulence.