0000000001313817
AUTHOR
Matthieu Bruneaux
Environmentally triggered evolutionary cascade across trophic levels in an experimental phage-bacteria-insect system
Abstract Environmental changes can cause strong cascading effects in species communities due to altered biological interactions between species (Zarnetske et al., 2012). Highly specialized interactions arising from the co-evolution of hosts and parasites, such as bacteria and phages, and short generation times of these species could rapidly lead to considerable evolutionary changes in their biotic interactions (Kerr, 2012; Buck and Ripple, 2017), with potential large-scale ramifications to other trophic levels. Here we report experimental evidence of cascading environmental effects across trophic levels in an experimental system where phage-bacteria coevolution in an abiotically altered env…
Multispecies coinfections and presence of antibiotics shape resistance and fitness costs in a pathogenic bacterium
Increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a challenge for treatment of bacterial diseases. In real life, bacterial infections are typically embedded within complex multispecies communities and influenced by the environment, which can shape costs and benefits of AMR. However, knowledge of such interactions and their implications for AMR in vivo is limited. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated fitness-related traits of a pathogenic bacterium (Flavobacterium columnare) in its fish host, capturing the effects of bacterial antibiotic resistance, coinfections between bacterial strains and metazoan parasites (fluke Diplostomum pseudospathaceum) and antibiotic exposure. We quantifie…
isotracer: An R package for the analysis of tracer addition experiments
Tracer addition experiments, particularly using isotopic tracers, are becoming increasingly important in a variety of studies aiming at characterizing the flows of molecules or nutrients at different levels of biological organization, from the cellular and tissue levels, to the organismal and ecosystem levels. However, performing rigorous statistical analyses to gain reliable quantitative insights from these experiments often remains challenging. We present an approach based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM) to estimate nutrient flow parameters across a network, and its implementation in the R package isotracer. The isotracer package is capable of handling a variety of tracer study designs, inc…
Prediction of harmful variants on mitochondrial genes : Test of habitat-dependent and demographic effects in a euryhaline fish
Both effective population size and life history may influence the efficacy of purifying selection, but it remains unclear if the environment affects the accumulation of weakly deleterious nonsynonymous polymorphisms. We hypothesize that the reduced energetic cost of osmoregulation in brackish water habitat may cause relaxation of selective constraints at mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 57 complete mitochondrial genomes of Pungitius pungitius collected from brackish and freshwater habitats. Based on inter- and intraspecific comparisons, we estimated that 84% and 68% of the nonsynonymous polymorphisms in the freshwater and brackish …
Thermal Tolerance is linked with Virulence in a Fish Pathogen
ABSTRACTAlthough increase in temperatures may boost the number of pathogens, a complex process involving the interaction of a susceptible host, a virulent strain, and environmental factors would influence disease virulence in unpredictable ways. Here we explored if the virulence of an environmentally growing opportunistic fish pathogen,Flavobacterium columnare, would be malleable to evolutionary changes via correlated selection on thermal tolerance. Virulence among the strains increased over years, but tolerance to higher temperatures was associated with reduced virulence. Our results suggest that observed increase in frequency of columnaris epidemics over the last decade is most likely ass…
A New Method to Reconstruct Quantitative Food Webs and Nutrient Flows from Isotope Tracer Addition Experiments
Understanding how nutrients flow through food webs is central in ecosystem ecology. Tracer addition experiments are powerful tools to reconstruct nutrient flows by adding an isotopically enriched element into an ecosystem and tracking its fate through time. Historically, the design and analysis of tracer studies have varied widely, ranging from descriptive studies to modeling approaches of varying complexity. Increasingly, isotope tracer data are being used to compare ecosystems and analyze experimental manipulations. Currently, a formal statistical framework for analyzing such experiments is lacking, making it impossible to calculate the estimation errors associated with the model fit, the…
The effect of a temperature-sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
AbstractViruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. We explored how temperature affects the interactions between prophages and other biological levels by using an opportunistic pathogen, the bacterium Serratia marcescens, that harbours several prophages and that had undergone an evolution experiment under several temperature regimes. We found that the release of one of the prophages was temperature-sensitive and malleable to evolutionary changes. We further discovered that the virulence of …
Application of high resolution melting assay (HRM) to study temperature-dependent intraspecific competition in a pathogenic bacterium
AbstractStudies on species’ responses to climate change have focused largely on the direct effect of abiotic factors and in particular temperature, neglecting the effects of biotic interactions in determining the outcome of climate change projections. Many microbes rely on strong interference competition; hence the fitness of many pathogenic bacteria could be a function of both their growth properties and intraspecific competition. However, due to technical challenges in distinguishing and tracking individual strains, experimental evidence on intraspecific competition has been limited so far. Here, we developed a robust application of the high-resolution melting (HRM) assay to study head-to…
Broad thermal tolerance is negatively correlated with virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Predicting the effects of global increase in temperatures on disease virulence is challenging, especially for environmental opportunistic bacteria, because pathogen fitness may be differentially affected by temperature within and outside host environment. So far, there is very little empirical evidence on the connections between optimal temperature range and virulence in environmentally growing pathogens. Here, we explored whether the virulence of an environmentally growing opportunistic fish pathogen, Flavobacterium columnare, is malleable to evolutionary changes via correlated selection on thermal tolerance. To this end, we experimentally quantified the thermal performance curves (TPCs) f…
A New Method to Reconstruct Quantitative Food Webs and Nutrient Flows from Isotope Tracer Addition Experiments
Understanding how nutrients flow through food webs is central in ecosystem ecology. Tracer addition experiments are powerful tools to reconstruct nutrient flows by adding an isotopically enriched element into an ecosystem and tracking its fate through time. Historically, the design and analysis of tracer studies have varied widely, ranging from descriptive studies to modeling approaches of varying complexity. Increasingly, isotope tracer data are being used to compare ecosystems and analyze experimental manipulations. Currently, a formal statistical framework for analyzing such experiments is lacking, making it impossible to calculate the estimation errors associated with the model fit, the…
The effect of a temperature-sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen.
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16638 Abstract Viruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. We explored how temperature affects the interactions between prophages and other biological levels by using an opportunistic pathogen, the bacterium Serratia marcescens, that harbours several prophages and that had undergone an evolution experiment under several temperature regimes. We found that the release of one of the prophages was temperature-sensitive and malleable to evolutionary changes. We furthe…
Spatio-temporal dynamics of density-dependent dispersal during a population colonisation
Predicting population colonisations requires understanding how spatio‐temporal changes in density affect dispersal. Density can inform on fitness prospects, acting as a cue for either habitat quality, or competition over resources. However, when escaping competition, high local density should only increase emigration if lower‐density patches are available elsewhere. Few empirical studies on dispersal have considered the effects of density at the local and landscape scale simultaneously. To explore this, we analyze 5 years of individual‐based data from an experimental introduction of wild guppies Poecilia reticulata. Natal dispersal showed a decrease in local density dependence as density at…
isotracer: An R package for the analysis of tracer addition experiments
AbstractTracer addition experiments, particularly using isotopic tracers, are becoming increasingly important in a variety of studies aiming at characterizing the flows of molecules or nutrients at different levels of biological organization, from the cellular and tissue levels, to the organismal and ecosystem levels.We present an approach based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM) to estimate nutrient flow parameters across a network, and its implementation in the R package isotracer.The isotracer package is capable of handling a variety of tracer study designs, including continuous tracer drips, pulse experiments, and pulse-chase experiments. It can also take into account tracer decay when radio…
Roles of adenosine and cytosine methylation changes and genetic mutations in adaptation to different temperatures
Abstract Epigenetic modifications have been found to be involved in evolution, but the relative contributions of genetic and epigenetic variation in adaptation are unknown. Furthermore, previous studies on the role of epigenetic changes in adaptation have nearly exclusively focused on cytosine methylation in eukaryotes. We collected phenotypic, genetic, and epigenetic data from populations of the bacterium Serratia marcescens that had undergone experimental evolution in contrasting temperatures to investigate the relationship between environment, genetics, epigenetic, and phenotypic traits. The genomic distribution of methylated adenosines (m6A) pointed to their role in regulation of gene e…
Roles of adenine methylation and genetic mutations in adaptation to different temperatures in Serratia marcescens
AbstractEpigenetic modifications can contribute to adaptation, but the relative contributions of genetic and epigenetic variation are unknown. Previous studies on the role of epigenetic changes in adaptation in eukaryotes have nearly exclusively focused on cytosine methylation (m5C), while prokaryotes exhibit a richer system of methyltransferases targetting adenines (m6A) or cytosines (m4C, m5C). DNA methylation in prokaryotes has many roles, but its potential role in adaptation still needs further investigation. We collected phenotypic, genetic, and epigenetic data using single molecule real-time sequencing of clones of the bacterium Serratia marcescens that had undergone experimental evol…
Data from: Spatio-temporal dynamics of density-dependent dispersal during a population colonisation
Predicting population colonisations requires understanding how spatio-temporal changes in density affect dispersal. Density can inform on fitness prospects, acting as a cue for either habitat quality, or competition over resources. However, when escaping competition, high local density should only increase emigration if lower-density patches are available elsewhere. Few empirical studies on dispersal have considered the effects of density at the local and landscape scale simultaneously. To explore this, we analyze 5 years of individual-based data from an experimental introduction of wild guppies Poecilia reticulata. Natal dispersal showed a decrease in local density dependence as density at…
Data from: Broad thermal tolerance is negatively correlated with virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Predicting the effects of global increase in temperatures on disease virulence is challenging, especially for environmental opportunistic bacteria, because pathogen fitness may be differentially affected by temperature within and outside host environment. So far, there is very little empirical evidence on the connections between optimal temperature range and virulence in environmentally growing pathogens. Here we explored if the virulence of an environmentally growing opportunistic fish pathogen, Flavobacterium columnare, is malleable to evolutionary changes via correlated selection on thermal tolerance. To this end, we experimentally quantified the thermal performance curves (TPCs) for max…
Research data of an article: "Application of high resolution melting assay (HMR) to study temperature dependent infraspecific competition in an pathogenic bacterium."
Studies on species’ responses to climate change have focused largely on the direct effect of abiotic factors and in particular temperature, neglecting the effects of biotic interactions in determining the outcome of climate change projections. Many microbes rely on strong interference competition; hence the fitness of many pathogenic bacteria could be a function of both their growth properties and intraspecific competition. However, due to technical challenges in distinguishing and tracking individual strains, experimental evidence on intraspecific competition has been limited so far. Here, we developed a robust application of the high-resolution melting (HRM) assay to study head-to-head co…