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Life history trade-offs and relaxed selection can decrease bacterial virulence in environmental reservoirs.

Lauri Mikonranta1, Ville-Petri Friman, Jouni Laakso

  • 1Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland. lauri.mikonranta@jyu.fi

Plos One
|September 1, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Opportunistic pathogens like Serratia marcescens may become less virulent in the environment. Adapting to predators reduced virulence, possibly due to losing the pigment prodigiosin.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Pathogen Ecology

Background:

  • Pathogen virulence typically evolves through host-pathogen interactions.
  • Opportunistic pathogens face diverse environments, leading to conflicting selection pressures.
  • Life-history trait correlations can influence virulence in pathogens with complex life cycles.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between anti-predator adaptation and virulence in the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens.
  • To understand how environmental pressures affect pathogen virulence evolution.
  • To identify potential trade-offs in life-history traits of opportunistic pathogens.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental evolution of Serratia marcescens exposed to the protist predator Tetrahymena thermophila for 13 weeks.
  • Measurement of bacterial traits associated with anti-predator defense and virulence.
  • Analysis of life-history trait evolution and correlations across different selection regimes.

Main Results:

  • Adaptation to predator defense (biofilm production) correlated with reduced bacterial virulence.
  • Loss of the pigment prodigiosin was linked to decreased virulence.
  • Selection in the absence of predators led to divergent evolution and reduced virulence in some lines.

Conclusions:

  • Environmental reservoirs can drive decreased virulence in opportunistic pathogens via life-history trade-offs.
  • Relaxed selection may lead to the accumulation of mutations impairing virulence traits.
  • Understanding pathogen evolution in diverse environments is crucial for predicting virulence dynamics.