Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Infect Genet Evol. 2020 Nov;85:104570. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104570. Epub 2020 Sep 28.
The bacterial genus, Borrelia, is comprised of vector-borne spirochete species that infect and are transmitted from multiple host species. Some Borrelia species cause highly-prevalent diseases in humans and domestic animals. Evolutionary, ecological, and molecular research on many Borrelia species have resulted in tremendous progress toward understanding the biology and natural history of these species. Yet, many outstanding questions, such as how Borrelia populations will be impacted by climate and land-use change, will require an interdisciplinary approach. The evolutionary ecology research framework incorporates theory and data from evolutionary, ecological, and molecular studies while overcoming common assumptions within each field that can hinder integration across these disciplines. Evolutionary ecology offers a framework to evaluate the ecological consequences of evolved traits and to predict how present-day ecological processes may result in further evolutionary change. Studies of microbes with complex transmission cycles, like Borrelia, which interact with multiple vertebrate hosts and arthropod vectors, are poised to leverage the power of the evolutionary ecology framework to identify the molecular interactions involved in ecological processes that result in evolutionary change. Using existing data, we outline how evolutionary ecology theory can delineate how interactions with other species and the physical environment create selective forces or impact migration of Borrelia populations and result in micro-evolutionary changes. We further discuss the ecological and molecular consequences of those micro-evolutionary changes. While many of the currently outstanding questions will necessitate new experimental designs and additional empirical data, many others can be addressed immediately by integrating existing molecular and ecological data within an evolutionary ecology framework.
细菌属 Borrelia 由多种宿主物种感染和传播的媒介传播螺旋体物种组成。一些 Borrelia 物种会导致人类和家畜高度流行的疾病。对许多 Borrelia 物种的进化、生态和分子研究已经取得了巨大的进展，使人们对这些物种的生物学和自然史有了更好的理解。然而，许多悬而未决的问题，例如 Borrelia 种群将如何受到气候和土地利用变化的影响，将需要采取跨学科的方法。进化生态学研究框架结合了进化、生态和分子研究的理论和数据，同时克服了每个领域内常见的假设，这些假设会阻碍这些学科之间的整合。进化生态学为评估进化特征的生态后果以及预测当今生态过程如何导致进一步进化变化提供了一个框架。对具有复杂传播周期的微生物的研究，如 Borrelia，与多种脊椎动物宿主和节肢动物媒介相互作用，将利用进化生态学框架的力量来确定涉及导致进化变化的生态过程的分子相互作用。利用现有数据，我们概述了进化生态学理论如何划定与其他物种和物理环境的相互作用如何产生选择性力量或影响 Borrelia 种群的迁移，并导致微进化变化。我们进一步讨论了这些微进化变化的生态和分子后果。虽然目前许多悬而未决的问题需要新的实验设计和额外的经验数据，但许多其他问题可以通过在进化生态学框架内整合现有的分子和生态数据来立即解决。
