Perrine Weston G, Sauer Erin L, Love Ashley C, Morris Ashley, Novotny Johnathan, DuRant Sarah E
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
Department of Biology, Miami University, Miami, OH 45056, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2025 Mar 1;228(5). doi: 10.1242/jeb.249541. Epub 2025 Mar 5.
Altered food landscapes contribute importantly to wildlife disease dynamics and may play a critical role in host heterogeneity in disease outcomes through changes in host diet composition. We explored the effects of dietary macronutrient composition on disease pathology and feeding behavior of canaries (Serinus canaria domestica) infected with Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG). In the first experiment, we provided canaries with isocaloric diets composed of identical ingredients that varied in macronutrient content (high protein or high lipid) then MG- or sham-inoculated birds. In the second experiment, we offered both diets to canaries before and after MG or sham inoculation. In experiment one, high-protein diet birds consumed more food than high-lipid diet birds and experienced a more pronounced decrease in food intake after infection. High-protein diet birds were more tolerant to MG infection, exhibiting reduced pathology when compared with high-lipid diet birds, despite the two treatments having similar levels of MG-specific antibodies and MG loads. When birds had access to both diets, they consumed more of the high-protein diet and experienced pathology for less time than lipid- or protein-restricted birds. These results highlight that macronutrient makeup of the diet can shape vertebrate host tolerance and pathology, which has direct implications for host-pathogen transmission dynamics.
改变的食物格局对野生动物疾病动态有着重要影响，并且可能通过宿主饮食组成的变化在疾病结果的宿主异质性方面发挥关键作用。我们探究了膳食常量营养素组成对感染鸡败血支原体（MG）的金丝雀（Serinus canaria domestica）疾病病理和摄食行为的影响。在第一个实验中，我们为金丝雀提供了由相同成分组成但常量营养素含量不同（高蛋白或高脂肪）的等热量饮食，然后对鸟类进行MG接种或假接种。在第二个实验中，我们在MG或假接种之前和之后都为金丝雀提供这两种饮食。在实验一中，高蛋白饮食的鸟类比高脂肪饮食的鸟类消耗更多食物，并且感染后食物摄入量下降更为明显。高蛋白饮食的鸟类对MG感染更具耐受性，与高脂肪饮食的鸟类相比，其病理表现有所减轻，尽管两种处理的MG特异性抗体水平和MG载量相似。当鸟类可以获取两种饮食时，它们会更多地食用高蛋白饮食，并且与限制脂质或蛋白质摄入的鸟类相比，经历病理变化的时间更短。这些结果表明，饮食中的常量营养素组成可以塑造脊椎动物宿主的耐受性和病理状况，这对宿主 - 病原体传播动态具有直接影响。
