Alvarez, H. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

Domestic dogs in indigenous Amazonian communities: key players in Leptospira cycling and transmission?

BackgroundLeptospirosis is the worlds most common zoonotic disease. Mitigation and control rely on pathogen identification and understanding the roles of potential reservoirs in cycling and transmission. Underreporting and misdiagnosis obscure the magnitude of the problem and confound efforts to understand key epidemiological components. Difficulties in culturing hamper the use of serological diagnostics and delay the development of DNA detection methods. As a result, especially in complex ecosystems, we know very little about the importance of different mammalian host species in cycling and transmission to humans. Methodology/Principal FindingsWe sampled five indigenous Kichwa communities living in the Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin. Blood and urine samples from domestic dogs were collected to assess the exposure of these animals to Leptospira, and to identify the circulating species. Microscopic Agglutination Tests with a panel of 22 different serovars showed anti-leptospira antibodies in 36 sampled dogs (75%), and 10 serotypes were detected. Two DNA-based detection assays revealed pathogenic Leptospira DNA in 18 of 19 dog urine samples (94.7%). Amplicon sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of 16s rDNA and SecY genes from 15 urine samples revealed genetic diversity within two of three different Leptospira species: noguchii (n=7), santarosai (n=7), and interrogans (n=1). Conclusions/SignificanceThe high prevalence of antibodies and Leptospira DNA provides strong evidence for high rates of past and current infections. Such high prevalence has not been previously reported for dogs. These dogs live in the peridomestic environment in close contact with humans, yet they are free-ranging animals that interact with wildlife. This complex web of interactions may explain the diverse types of pathogenic Leptospira observed in this study. Our results suggest that domestic dogs are likely to play an important role in the cycling and transmission of Leptospira. Future studies in areas with complex ecoepidemiology will enable better parsing of the significance of genotypic, environmental, and host characteristics. Author SummaryPeople around the world interact with a wide range of animals, but one of the closest is the domestic dog. Dogs can be reservoirs of several zoonotic infectious diseases, including leptospirosis. The frequent ecological interactions between people, dogs and wildlife in indigenous communities living in the Amazon basin might increase the complexity of leptospirosis transmission, in comparison with what has been described for other settings. In the Amazon basin, wild animals and domestic animals may act as reservoirs of the pathogen, excreting the bacteria through their urine. In this work we analyzed serum and urine samples from dogs living with Kichwa communities from the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador. Serum samples were analyzed with MAT and urine samples with a qPCR that detect the presence of pathogenic Leptospira. Our results suggest that a high percentage of dogs are shedding the pathogen and we identified three different Leptospira species. Our serological analysis suggests the presence of ten serovars in dogs and their high exposure to Leptospira. These findings provide important insights into the epidemiology of leptospirosis in this ecosystem, suggesting that dogs are likely to play a critical role in the transmission of the disease.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Neural correlates of winning and losing fights in poison frog tadpoles

Aggressive competition for resources among juveniles is documented in many species, but the neural mechanisms regulating this behavior in young animals are poorly understood. In poison frogs, increased parental care is associated with decreased water volume of tadpole pools, resource limitation, and aggression. Indeed, the tadpoles of many poison frog species will attack, kill, and cannibalize other tadpoles. We examined the neural basis of conspecific aggression in Dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) tadpoles by comparing individuals that won aggressive encounters, lost aggressive encounters, or did not engage in a fight. We first compared patterns of generalized neural activity using immunohistochemical detection of phosphorylated ribosomes (pS6) as a proxy for neural activation associated with behavior. We found increased neural activity in the medial pallium and preoptic area of loser tadpoles, suggesting the amphibian homologs of the mammalian hippocampus and preoptic area may facilitate loser-associated behaviors. Nonapeptides (arginine vasotocin and mesotocin) and dopamine have been linked to aggression in other vertebrates and are located in the preoptic area. We next examined neural activity specifically in nonapeptide- and tyrosine-hydroxylase-positive cells using double-label immunohistochemistry. We found increased neural activity specifically in the preoptic area nonapeptide neurons of winners, whereas we found no differences in activity of dopaminergic cells among behavioral groups. Our findings suggest the neural correlates of aggression in poison frog tadpoles are similar to neural mechanisms mediating aggression in adults and juveniles of other vertebrate taxa.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

On Parameter Interpretability of Phenomenological-Based Semiphysical Models

Empirical and phenomenological based models are used to represent biological and physiological processes. Phenomenological models are derived from the knowledge of the mechanisms that underlie the behaviour of the system under study, while empirical models are derived from analysis of data to quantify relationships between variables of interest. For studying biological systems, the phenomenological modeling approach offers the great advantage of having a structure with variables and parameters with physical meaning that enhance the interpretability of the model and its further used for decision making. The interpretability property of models, however, remains a vague concept. In this study, we tackled the interpretability property for parameters of phenomenological-based models. To our knowledge, this property has not been deeply discussed, perhaps by the implicit assumption that interpretability is inherent to the phenomenological-based models. We propose a conceptual framework to address the parameter interpretability and its implications for parameter identifiability. We use as battle horse a simple but relevant model representing the enzymatic degradation of {beta}-casein by a Lactococcus lactis bacterium.

bioengineering↗