ABSTRACT
The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has refocused attention to the betacoronaviruses, only eight years after the emergence of another zoonotic betacoronavirus, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). While the wild source of SARS-CoV-2 may be disputed, for MERS-CoV, dromedaries are considered as source of zoonotic human infections. Testing 100 immune-response genes in 121 dromedaries from United Arab Emirates (UAE) for potential association with present MERS-CoV infection, we identified candidate genes with important functions in the adaptive, MHC-class I (HLA-A-24-like) and II (HLA-DPB1-like), and innate immune response (PTPN4, MAGOHB), and in cilia coating the respiratory tract (DNAH7). Some of these genes previously have been associated with viral replication in SARS-CoV-1/-2 in humans, others have an important role in the movement of bronchial cilia. These results suggest similar host genetic pathways associated with these betacoronaviruses, although further work is required to better understand the MERS-CoV disease dynamics in both dromedaries and humans.
Subject(s)
Adaptive Immunity/genetics , Camelus/virology , Communicable Diseases, Emerging/immunology , Coronavirus Infections/immunology , Immunity, Innate/genetics , Zoonoses/immunology , Animals , Antibodies, Viral , Bronchi/cytology , Bronchi/physiology , COVID-19/genetics , COVID-19/immunology , COVID-19/virology , Camelus/genetics , Camelus/immunology , Cilia/physiology , Communicable Diseases, Emerging/genetics , Communicable Diseases, Emerging/transmission , Communicable Diseases, Emerging/virology , Coronavirus Infections/genetics , Coronavirus Infections/transmission , Coronavirus Infections/virology , Disease Reservoirs/virology , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Host Microbial Interactions/genetics , Host Microbial Interactions/immunology , Humans , Male , Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus/immunology , Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus/isolation & purification , Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus/pathogenicity , Respiratory Mucosa/cytology , Respiratory Mucosa/physiology , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/pathogenicity , United Arab Emirates , Virus Replication/genetics , Virus Replication/immunology , Zoonoses/genetics , Zoonoses/transmission , Zoonoses/virologyABSTRACT
Emerging infectious diseases pose one of the greatest threats to human health and biodiversity. Phylodynamics is often used to infer epidemiological parameters essential for guiding intervention strategies for human viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2). Here, we applied phylodynamics to elucidate the epidemiological dynamics of Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), a fatal, transmissible cancer with a genome thousands of times larger than that of any virus. Despite prior predictions of devil extinction, transmission rates have declined precipitously from ~3.5 secondary infections per infected individual to ~1 at present. Thus, DFTD appears to be transitioning from emergence to endemism, lending hope for the continued survival of the endangered Tasmanian devil. More generally, our study demonstrates a new phylodynamic analytical framework that can be applied to virtually any pathogen.