Preliminary insights into the genetics of bank vole tolerance to Puumala hantavirus in Sweden

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Rohfritsch, Audrey, Galan, Maxime, Gautier, Mathieu, Gharbi, Karim, Olsson, Gert, Gschloessl, Bernhard, Zeimes, Caroline, Vanwambeke, Sophie, Vitalis, Renaud, Charbonnel, Nathalie
• Other Authors: Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations (UMR CBGP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Earlham Institute Norwich, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), Centre Georges Lemaître for Earth and Climate Research Louvain (TECLIM), Earth and Life Institute Louvain-La-Neuve (ELI), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)-Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), European Project: 261504,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EDENEXT(2011)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: adaptation; hantavirus; immunity; RAD sequencing; selection; molecular epidemiology; tolerance; voles; [SDV.GEN.GPO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Genetics/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Northern Bank; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02388043; https://hal.science/hal-02388043/document; https://hal.science/hal-02388043/file/Rohfritsch_et_al_2018_EcolEvol.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4603

International audience Natural reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens generally seem to be capable of tolerating infections. Tolerance and its underlying mechanisms remain difficult to assess using experiments or wildlife surveys. High-throughput sequencing technologies give the opportunity to investigate the genetic bases of tolerance, and the variability of its mechanisms in natural populations. In particular, population genomics may provide preliminary insights into the genes shaping tolerance and potentially influencing epidemiological dynamics. Here, we addressed these questions in the bank vole Myodes glareolus, the specific asymptomatic reservoir host of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), which causes nephropathia epidemica (NE) in humans. Despite the continuous spatial distribution of M. glareolus in Sweden, NE is endemic to the northern part of the country. Northern bank vole populations in Sweden might exhibit tolerance strategies as a result of coadaptation with PUUV. This may favor the circulation and maintenance of PUUV and lead to high spatial risk of NE in northern Sweden. We performed a genome-scan study to detect signatures of selection potentially correlated with spatial variations in tolerance to PUUV. We analyzed six bank vole populations from Sweden, sampled from northern NE-endemic to southern NE-free areas. We combined candidate gene analyses (Tlr4, Tlr7, and Mx2 genes) and high-through-put sequencing of restriction site-associated DNA (RAD) markers. Outlier loci showed high levels of genetic differentiation and significant associations with environmental data including variations in the regional number of NE human cases. Among the 108 outliers that matched to mouse protein-coding genes, 14 corresponded to immune-related genes. The main biological pathways found to be significantly enriched corresponded to immune processes and responses to hantavirus, including the regulation of cytokine productions, TLR cascades, and IL-7, VEGF, and JAK-STAT signaling. In the future, genome-scan replicates and ...