Wanelik Klara M, Begon Mike, Bradley Janette E, Fenn Jonathan, Jackson Joseph A, Paterson Steve
Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
School of Biosciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Anim Microbiome. 2025 May 6;7(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s42523-025-00411-1.
The microbiome is well known to drive variation in host states (e.g. behaviour, immunity) that would be expected to modulate the spread of infectious disease-but the role of microbiotal interactions in promoting superspreading is poorly understood. Superspreaders are individuals with a strongly disproportionate contribution to pathogen transmission, and come in two forms. Supershedders transmit infection to more individuals because they shed higher levels of pathogen. Supercontacters transmit infection to more individuals because they have larger numbers of social contacts. We explore associations between the gut microbiota and these two forms of superspreading in a wild rodent model-Bartonella spp. bacteraemia in the field vole (Microtus agrestis). We find evidence that individuals fall into distinct shedding and contacting clusters, and that higher-contacters have lower and more variable gut microbial alpha-diversity than lower-contacters. We also show evidence that both higher-shedders and higher-contacters have distinct gut microbial composition and identify OTUs that are differentially abundant in the gut microbiota of these two classes of individuals when compared to lower-shedders and lower-contacters respectively. We find that the Muribaculaceae are associated with differences in both shedding and contacting, and discuss potential mechanisms by which they may be acting on these host traits.
众所周知，微生物群会驱动宿主状态（如行为、免疫）的变化，而这些变化有望调节传染病的传播，但微生物群相互作用在促进超级传播中的作用却鲜为人知。超级传播者是指对病原体传播贡献极大不成比例的个体，有两种类型。超级排菌者将感染传播给更多个体，因为他们排出的病原体水平更高。超级接触者将感染传播给更多个体，因为他们有更多的社会接触。我们在野生啮齿动物模型——田鼠（Microtus agrestis）中的巴尔通体菌血症中，探索肠道微生物群与这两种超级传播形式之间的关联。我们发现，个体分为不同的排菌和接触集群，与低接触者相比，高接触者的肠道微生物α多样性更低且更具变异性。我们还发现，高排菌者和高接触者都有独特的肠道微生物组成，并分别确定了与低排菌者和低接触者相比，这两类个体肠道微生物群中丰度有差异的操作分类单元（OTU）。我们发现毛螺菌科与排菌和接触的差异都有关联，并讨论了它们可能作用于这些宿主特征的潜在机制。
