RESUMEN
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.
Asunto(s)
Inmunidad Adaptativa/genética , Camelus/virología , Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes/inmunología , Infecciones por Coronavirus/inmunología , Inmunidad Innata/genética , Zoonosis/inmunología , Animales , Anticuerpos Antivirales , Bronquios/citología , Bronquios/fisiología , COVID-19/genética , COVID-19/inmunología , COVID-19/virología , Camelus/genética , Camelus/inmunología , Cilios/fisiología , Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes/genética , Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes/transmisión , Enfermedades Transmisibles Emergentes/virología , Infecciones por Coronavirus/genética , Infecciones por Coronavirus/transmisión , Infecciones por Coronavirus/virología , Reservorios de Enfermedades/virología , Femenino , Predisposición Genética a la Enfermedad , Interacciones Microbiota-Huesped/genética , Interacciones Microbiota-Huesped/inmunología , Humanos , Masculino , Coronavirus del Síndrome Respiratorio de Oriente Medio/inmunología , Coronavirus del Síndrome Respiratorio de Oriente Medio/aislamiento & purificación , Coronavirus del Síndrome Respiratorio de Oriente Medio/patogenicidad , Mucosa Respiratoria/citología , Mucosa Respiratoria/fisiología , SARS-CoV-2/inmunología , SARS-CoV-2/patogenicidad , Emiratos Árabes Unidos , Replicación Viral/genética , Replicación Viral/inmunología , Zoonosis/genética , Zoonosis/transmisión , Zoonosis/virologíaRESUMEN
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.