Search results for "DISEASES"
showing 10 items of 20537 documents
Sensitive measure of prevalence and parasitaemia of haemosporidia from European blackbird (Turdus merula) populations: value of PCR-RFLP and quantita…
2006
8 pages; International audience; Haemosporidian parasites are common in birds in which they act as an important selective pressure. While most studies so far have focused on the effect of their prevalence on host life-history traits, no study has measured the effect of parasitaemia. We developed molecular methods to detect, identify and quantify haemosporidia in 2 natural populations of the Blackbird Turdus merula. Three different parasite genotypes were found - 1 Haemoproteus and 2 Plasmodium. A PCR-RFLP screening revealed that only approximately 3% of blackbirds were free of parasites, compared to the 34% of uninfected birds estimated by blood smear screening. A quantitative PCR (q-PCR) a…
Predictions of avian Plasmodium expansion under climate change.
2013
International audience; Vector-borne diseases are particularly responsive to changing environmental conditions. Diurnal temperature variation has been identified as a particularly important factor for the development of malaria parasites within vectors. Here, we conducted a survey across France, screening populations of the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) for malaria (Plasmodium relictum). We investigated whether variation in remotely-sensed environmental variables accounted for the spatial variation observed in prevalence and parasitemia. While prevalence was highly correlated to diurnal temperature range and other measures of temperature variation, environmental conditions could not pre…
Effect of repeated exposure to Plasmodium relictum (lineage SGS1) on infection dynamics in domestic canaries.
2010
7 pages; International audience; Parasites are known to exert strong selection pressures on their hosts and, as such, favour the evolution of defence mechanisms. The negative impact of parasites on their host can have substantial consequences in terms of population persistence and the epidemiology of the infection. In natural populations, however, it is difficult to assess the cost of infection while controlling for other potentially confounding factors. For instance, individuals are repeatedly exposed to a variety of parasite strains, some of which can elicit immunological memory, further protecting the host from subsequent infections. Cost of infection is, therefore, expected to be partic…
Rapid response of a long-lived species to improved water and grazing management: the case of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Camar…
2014
7 pages; International audience; Among human activities, the effect of habitat management by grazing on population viability is ambiguous. Indeed, beneficial effects of grazing are expected by maintaining open meadows, but overgrazing is supposed to increase mortality by trampling. Grazing has been shown to negatively impact the survival of European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Camargue. Consequently, a new management plan was defined. We investigated the consequences of this management using capture-recapture methods to estimate variations of population sizes in this managed site and a control site over a 17 years period. Results show an increase of the number of adults and juveni…
Town population size and structuring into villages and households drive infectious disease risks in pre-healthcare Finland
2021
Social life is often considered to cost in terms of increased parasite or pathogen risk. However, evidence for this in the wild remains equivocal, possibly because populations and social groups are often structured, which affects the local transmission and extinction of diseases. We test how the structuring of towns into villages and households influenced the risk of dying from three easily diagnosable infectious diseases—smallpox, pertussis and measles—using a novel dataset covering almost all of Finland in the pre-healthcare era (1800–1850). Consistent with previous results, the risk of dying from all three diseases increased with the local population size. However, the division of towns …
Cold water reduces the severity of parasite-inflicted damage : support for wintertime recuperation in aquatic hosts
2019
The reduction in host fitness caused by parasite infections (virulence) depends on infection intensity and the degree of damage caused per parasite. Environmental conditions can shape both virulence components, but in contrast to infection intensity, environmental impacts on per-parasite damage are poorly understood. Here, we studied the effect of ambient temperature on per-parasite damage, which is jointly determined by the ability of parasites to induce harm (per-parasite pathogenicity) and the ability of hosts to limit damage (tolerance). We experimentally exposed two salmonid species, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and sea trout (Salmo trutta), to replicated genotypes of the eye fluke Di…
Artificial Oral Processing of Extruded Pea Flour Snacks
2021
International audience; The structure of extruded pea flour can affect chewing performances. Our objective was to relate the bolus properties (fragmentation, moisture content and viscosity) of chewed extruded pea snacks to their structure. In order to have control over oral physiological parameters, we opted for an in vitro approach using a chewing simulator, the variables of which were the flow rate of artificial salivary fluid and chewing time. The structure of the extruded pea snacks was characterized by its density and protein solubility in dithioerythritol (DTE), which reflected the amount of protein aggregates cross-linked by disulphide bonds. The particle size distribution and median…
Occurrence of ‘blue’ and ‘frost’ rings reveal frost sensitivity of eastern Baltic provenances of Scots pine
2020
Abstract Assisted gene flow is advised as one of the most effective means to sustain the productivity of forests under warming climate via application of the provenances (genotypes) capable to utilize longer vegetation season. Nevertheless in the temperate and boreal zones, the extension of vegetation period also subjects trees to effects of frosts, which can have severe economic impact under warming climate. In this study, wood anatomical anomalies related to late frosts in spring (‘frost’ rings) and early frosts in late summer (‘blue’ rings) for the eastern Baltic provenances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) with a contrasting field performance were analysed retrospectively. Three tria…
Arabidopsis SGS2 and SGS3 genes are required for posttranscriptional gene silencing and natural virus resistance.
2000
AbstractPosttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants results from the degradation of mRNAs and shows phenomenological similarities with quelling in fungi and RNAi in animals. Here, we report the isolation of sgs2 and sgs3 Arabidopsis mutants impaired in PTGS. We establish a mechanistic link between PTGS, quelling, and RNAi since the Arabidopsis SGS2 protein is similar to an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase like N. crassa QDE-1, controlling quelling, and C. elegans EGO-1, controlling RNAi. In contrast, SGS3 shows no significant similarity with any known or putative protein, thus defining a specific step of PTGS in plants. Both sgs2 and sgs3 mutants show enhanced susceptibility to virus, d…
Impact of vector dispersal and host-plant fidelity on the dissemination of an emerging plant pathogen
2012
International audience; Dissemination of vector-transmitted pathogens depend on the survival and dispersal of the vector and the vector's ability to transmit the pathogen, while the host range of vector and pathogen determine the breath of transmission possibilities. In this study, we address how the interaction between dispersal and plant fidelities of a pathogen (stolbur phytoplasma tuf-a) and its vector (Hyalesthes obsoletus: Cixiidae) affect the emergence of the pathogen. Using genetic markers, we analysed the geographic origin and range expansion of both organisms in Western Europe and, specifically, whether the pathogen's dissemination in the northern range is caused by resident vecto…