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Parasite/pathogen
Coinfections and virulence II
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Anthropocene | - Humanity’s influence is causing climate change and drastic changes in species richness |
Anthropocene 1: climate change | Coevolution may increase or decrease the effect of environmental change, depending on the type of interaction between species Antagonistic = reduced effects Mutualistic = increased effects+ higher extinction |
Manipulation biodiversity | We live at a time when we are increasingly manipulating much of Earth’s biodiversity for our own ends - Antibiotics - Selective breeding - RAPID changes |
Anthropocene 2: species on the move | - loss of evolutionary hotspots - species jumps |
Emerging infectious disease | HIV-1 100% fatality rate 30 million deaths |
Anthropocene: ‘take back control’ by harnessing coevolution | FMT (fecal microbiota transplantation) Bioremediation |
Defence symbionts | - one that assists the hosts by fighting off the host pathogens - Virus resistance and mechanism to spread |
Bioremediation | In bacteria, Heavy metal bioremediation is a ‘public good’ Siderophores in bacteria scavenge free iron in the environment |
Heavy metal contamination | - big problem |
Other applied benefits | Predictive power: e.g. in response to applied disease control, extinction risks Harness evolution: Evolve less harmful parasites Novel therapeutics: phage therapy* Defensive symbionts – FMT and wolbachia Heavy metal bioremediation |
Phage therapy | - use of bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections |
Manipulating virulence? | - effects vaccination development - can we manipulate pathogens to decrease virulence? - multiple strains to avirulent (not toxic)? |