Schulz Nora K E, Asgari Danial, Liu Siqin, Birnbaum Stephanie S L, Williams Alissa M, Prakash Arun, Tate Ann T
Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37232.
Evolutionary Studies Initiative, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37232.
bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 5:2024.08.01.606236. doi: 10.1101/2024.08.01.606236.
Energetic resources fuel immune responses and parasite growth within organisms, but it is unclear whether energy allocation is sufficient to explain changes in infection outcomes under the threat of multiple parasites. We manipulated diet in flour beetles () infected with two natural parasites to investigate the role of resources in shifting metabolic and immune responses after single and co-infection. Our results suggest that gregarine parasites alter the within-host energetic environment, and by extension juvenile development time, in a diet-dependent manner. Gregarines do not affect host resistance to acute bacterial infection but do stimulate the expression of an alternative set of immune genes and promote damage to the gut, ultimately contributing to reduced survival regardless of diet. Thus, energy allocation is not sufficient to explain the immunological contribution to coinfection outcomes, emphasizing the importance of mechanistic insight for predicting the impact of coinfection across levels of biological organization.
能量资源为生物体内的免疫反应和寄生虫生长提供燃料，但尚不清楚能量分配是否足以解释在多种寄生虫威胁下感染结果的变化。我们对感染了两种天然寄生虫的面粉甲虫（）的饮食进行了操控，以研究资源在单一感染和共同感染后转变代谢和免疫反应中的作用。我们的结果表明，簇虫寄生虫以饮食依赖的方式改变宿主体内的能量环境，进而改变幼虫发育时间。簇虫不影响宿主对急性细菌感染的抵抗力，但会刺激另一组免疫基因的表达并促进肠道损伤，最终导致无论饮食如何，存活率都会降低。因此，能量分配不足以解释对共感染结果的免疫学贡献，这强调了机制性洞察对于预测生物组织层面共感染影响的重要性。
