TY - JOUR A1 - Hufsky, F. A1 - Ibrahim, B. A1 - Beer, M. A1 - Deng, L. A1 - Le Mercier, P. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Palmarini, M. A1 - Thiel, V. A1 - Marz, M. T1 - Virologists—Heroes need weapons N2 - Virologists. You might know a couple of them, but unless you are a virologist yourself, the probability that you have collaborated with one in the past is low. The community is relatively small, but they pack a heavy punch and are expected to play a leading role in the research into pathogens that lies ahead. You may ask why we think virologists are our future. Suffice it to say that it is not just because they have invented technologies that belong to the space age, including use of viruses as vehicles to shuttle genes into cells[1], organic nanoparticles with specific tools attached to their surfaces to get inside target cells[2], and using genetically modified viruses as therapies to fight against cancer[3]. Did you know that virologists currently only know of about 3,200 viral species but that more than 320,000 mammal-associated viruses[4] are thought to await discovery? Just think about the viruses hidden in the Arctic ice[5] or in the insects and other animals from once cut-off regions in the world, which now face ever-increasing human exposure[6]. But a heroic (as well as an apocalyptic) role for virologists may also be on the horizon, as the adoption of phage therapy may, in the future, be used to control harmful bacteria when antibiotics fail KW - Virology KW - Bioinformatics PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-442402 DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006771 SN - 1553-7366 SN - 1553-7374 VL - 14 IS - 2 SP - Article e1006771, 1 EP - 3 PB - Public Library of Science CY - Lawrence, Kan. AN - OPUS4-44240 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Blurred boundaries between society and individuality: using immunity to understand a major evolutionary transition N2 - A fundamental yet seemingly contradictory aspect of biological individuals is their capacity to remain the same while changing through time. This self-regulatory ability is facilitated by a number of factors that are shared by all complex multicellular life-forms. One such essential trait is an effective immune system. Here, I use concepts of individuality and immunity to explore the blurred line between society and individual in termite “superorganisms”. I discuss our current understanding of the breadth and mechanistic underpinnings of collective immunity in termites, before going on to explore the evolution of the immune system during the transition from a cockroach-like ancestor to a fully-fledged termite society. I end by discussing the possibly crucial role played by immunity during the emergence of eusociality, and in transitions in organismal complexity generally. T2 - BIO-Seminar, University of Copenhagen CY - Copenhagen, Denmark DA - 27.02.2018 KW - Termite KW - Evolution KW - Social KW - Immunity PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-44242 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - The evolution of termite immunity N2 - The evolution and mechanistic underpinnings of termite immunity are not well understood. Given the intimate relationship between sociality and disease, this represents a major gap in understanding, particularly since termites represent the only animal group outside of Hymenoptera to have evolved such advanced forms of social living. We explore the evolution of termite immunity by conducting qualitative and quantitative transcriptomic analyses from twelve cockroach and termite species occurring along a gradient of sociality. We incorporate lineages spanning the origin of eusociality, and include species from a key transitional subsocial group: the wood roaches. Firstly, we analyze immune characteristics in the context of termite phylogeny. Here, we examine the evolution of immune traits during the transition to eusociality, and explore the extent to which immune adaptations are associated with evolutionary shifts in social complexity and ecology. Secondly, we conduct a quantitative analysis of responses to a common immune stimulus to examine the role of both sociality and caste in immunity. Here, we test the hypothesis that the evolution of division of labour – and associated increases in investment into costly altruistic (immune) traits – occurred at the expense of individual immunity in the sterile caste. T2 - Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology CY - Groningen, Netherlands DA - 20.08.2017 KW - Evolution KW - Termite KW - Immunity PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-44243 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - The evolution of termite immunity N2 - The evolution and mechanistic underpinnings of termite immunity are not well understood. Given the intimate relationship between sociality and disease, this represents a major gap in understanding, particularly since termites represent the only animal group outside of Hymenoptera to have evolved such advanced forms of social living. We explore the evolution of termite immunity by conducting qualitative and quantitative transcriptomic analyses from twelve cockroach and termite species occurring along a gradient of sociality. We incorporate lineages spanning the origin of eusociality, and include species from a key transitional subsocial group: the wood roaches. Firstly, we analyze immune characteristics in the context of termite phylogeny. Here, we examine the evolution of immune traits during the transition to eusociality, and explore the extent to which immune adaptations are associated with evolutionary shifts in social complexity and ecology. Secondly, we conduct a quantitative analysis of responses to a common immune stimulus to examine the role of both sociality and caste in immunity. Here, we test the hypothesis that the evolution of division of labour – and associated increases in investment into costly altruistic (immune) traits – occurred at the expense of individual immunity in the sterile caste. T2 - Ecological Immunology Workshop 2017 CY - Blossin, Brandenburg, Germany DA - 28.08.2017 KW - Evolution KW - Termite KW - Immunity PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-44244 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - He, Shulin A1 - Lokatis, S. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Defend and disinfect: a flexible role for soldiers in termite society N2 - The first sterile caste to evolve in termites was the soldier. While the importance of soldiers to termite society defense has long been recognized, the contribution of soldiers to other societal functions, such as colony immunity, is less well understood. We explore this issue by examining the role of soldiers in protecting nestmates against pathogen infection. Even though they are unable to engage in grooming behavior, we find that the presence of soldiers of the Darwin termite, Mastotermes darwiniensis, significantly improves the survival of nestmates following entomopathogenic infection. We also show that the copious exocrine oral secretions produced by Darwin termite soldiers contain a high concentration of proteins involved in digestion, chemical biosynthesis, and immunity. The oral secretions produced by soldiers are sufficient to protect nestmates against infection, and they have potent inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of microbes. Our findings support the view that soldiers may play an important role in colony immunity, and broaden our understanding of the possible function of soldiers during the origin of soldier-first societies. T2 - 22nd Graduate Meeting in Evolutionary Biology of the German Zoological Society CY - Plön, Germany DA - 12.09.2017 KW - Termite KW - Social KW - Immunity PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-44249 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Trimpert, J. A1 - Groenke, N. A1 - Jenckel, M. A1 - He, Shulin A1 - Kunec, D. A1 - Szpara, M.L. A1 - Spatz, S.J. A1 - Osterrieder, N. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - A phylogenomic analysis of Marek's disease virus (MDV) reveals independent paths to virulence in Eurasia and North America N2 - Virulence determines the impact a pathogen has on the fitness of its host, yet current understanding of the evolutionary origins and causes of virulence of many pathogens is surprisingly incomplete. Here, we explore the evolution of Marek’s disease virus (MDV), a herpesvirus commonly afflicting chickens and rarely other avian species. The history of MDV in the 20th century represents an important case study in the evolution of virulence. The severity of MDV infection in chickens has been rising steadily since the adoption of intensive farming techniques and vaccination programs in the 1950s and 1970s, respectively. It has remained uncertain, however, which of these factors is causally more responsible for the observed increase in virulence of circulating viruses. We conducted a phylogenomic study to understand the evolution of MDV in the context of dramatic changes to poultry farming and disease control. Our analysis reveals evidence of geographical structuring of MDV strains, with reconstructions supporting the emergence of virulent viruses independently in North America and Eurasia. Of note, the emergence of virulent viruses appears to coincide approximately with the introduction of comprehensive vaccination on both continents. The time-dated phylogeny also indicated that MDV has a mean evolutionary rate of ~1.6 × 10−5 substitutions per site per year. An examination of gene-linked mutations did not identify a strong association between mutational variation and virulence phenotypes, indicating that MDV may evolve readily and rapidly under strong selective pressures and that multiple genotypic pathways may underlie virulence adaptation in MDV. KW - Sesistance KW - Disease KW - Emergence KW - Evolution KW - Virulence PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-429054 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.12515 SN - 1752-4571 VL - 10 IS - 10 SP - 1091 EP - 1101 PB - John Wiley & Sons Ltd. AN - OPUS4-42905 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Evolution, recombination and virulence of emerging bee viruses N2 - Bee populations have declined significantly in recent years and this is thought to be attributable at least in part to the (re-)emergence of viruses. These viruses are predominantly positive single stranded (+ss) RNA viruses belonging to the Picornavirales. Managed honeybees are often infested with the invasive mite, Varroa destructor, which vectors RNA viruses including Deformed wing virus (DWV, family Iflaviridae): a leading culprit of colony losses. Many bee viruses have been sequenced and structural features are now available for viruses such as DWV. DWV consists of at least 3 distinct genotypes, two of which have been shown to be differentially virulent in honeybees. Molecular studies have demonstrated that DWV has a mean evolutionary rate of 1.35 x 10-3 per site per year. For such viruses – in contrast to their eukaryotic hosts – ecological and evolutionary timescales significantly overlap. This rapid evolution allows RNA viruses to adapt quickly to novel host environments with recombination representing an additional key source of genetic variation. Interestingly, recombination between genotypes of DWV has recently been shown to be a common occurrence in honeybees. A challenge has been to develop bioinformatics tools that can accurately reconstruct viral haplotypes – including recombinants – from heterogenous high-throughput sequence data. The impact of blood-to-blood Varroa destructor transmission on virus evolution represents an important question in bee virus research. Due to the nature of the V. destructor life cycle, predictions can be made about the potential impact of the mite on virus virulence evolution. Specifically, the developing honeybee host pupa should remain alive until close to the completion of metamorphosis to provide sufficient time for successful mite reproduction, including offspring mating. For optimal transmission, any virus found in a mature and mated daughter mite will hold a significant selective advantage over a virus found in an immature or unmated daughter mite – placing a cost on virus virulence that impacts honeybee pupae before mites can mate. On the other side, viruses replicating too slowly and with delayed virulence effects will hold a selective handicap because fewer transmission units will be found in mated mites. I have hypothesized that the evolution of virus virulence shifted following the arrival of V. destructor, with viruses, including recombinants and/or specific viral genotypes being selected for a level of virulence in pupae (and likely also in adults) that maximises R0, which represents the basic reproductive number of the virus in the host population. R0 is defined by the number of subsequent infections caused by a single infection and it must be greater than 1 for an infection to spread in a population. It is enhanced by maximising the number of transmission units passed to uninfected susceptible vectors, and ultimately hosts (Figure 1). Honeybee viruses are also shared with sympatric wild bees and viral prevalence and sequence data indicate frequent virus transmission between managed and wild bee species. In addition to infecting the western honeybee (Apis mellifera), DWV can infect other Asian honeybee species such as Apis ceranae. Outside of honeybees, DWV has been found widely in bumblebees, including solitary bees and wasps and there is evidence that it can actively replicate in several Bombus and solitary bee species. Whether the arrival of the V. destructor mite in A. mellifera has driven viral emergence in non-Apis bees is a target of ongoing research. T2 - 2nd European Virus Bioinformatics Centre (EVBC) conference CY - Utrecht, Netherlands DA - 09.05.2018 KW - Virus KW - Virulence KW - Bees PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47155 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Emerging Viruses in Bees: From Molecules toEmerging bee viruses: from molecules to host and vector ecology Ecology N2 - Technical advances in the study of molecular evolution have crystallized the fundamental insight that many bee pathogens evolve and adapt over timescales that overlap with host ecology. At the same time, the role played by bee host community ecology is increasingly being appreciated in host-parasite interactions. Here, we focus on Deformed wing virus (DWV) and present recent studies exploring the link between virulence, DWV genetic diversity and changes to host ecology - namely the arrival of an invasive ectoparasite, the Varroa destructor mite, which vectors viruses between honeybees. Specifically, we show how V. destructor may have created conditions for the emergence of more virulent strains of DWV in the western honeybee, Apis mellifera. We present a molecule-to-ecology framework to help interpret findings and to guide future hypotheses, emphasizing the role of molecular interactions between viruses and host immunity as drivers of change at the bee population level. T2 - International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI2018) CY - Guaruja, Brazil DA - 05.08.2018 KW - Disease KW - Virus KW - Emerging KW - Pathogen KW - Bee PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47156 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Exploring RNA viruses in edible insects: a case study using cockroaches, termites N2 - Our understanding of RNA viruses from edible insects is minimal at best, with studies largely focusing on model insect species and those associated with obvious signs of disease. This represents a considerable gap in understanding, given the growing role of insects as a source of food and feed, as well as the more general relevance of insects in agriculture and health. Illness due to entomophagy is rare but well documented, including fatal cases following the consumption of termites. Termites are eaten commonly in tropical Asia, Africa and South America, and are among the insects with the highest recorded fat content. There are many species of termites, with a wide range of diets and habitats centering around the consumption of wood and soil substrates. In this study, we report the results from a survey of more than 30 cockroach and termite transcriptomes, with the aim of understanding the diversity and evolution of RNA viruses as well as other potentially pathogenic organisms that are associated with this relevant but somewhat overlooked group of insects. We discuss our results in the context of the possible zoonotic risk posed by insects, as well as in the context of emerging viral and other disease threats that may face insects being reared at industrial scales. T2 - 4th International INSECTA 2018 Conference CY - Giessen, Germany DA - 05.09.2018 KW - Edible insects KW - Emerging KW - Virus KW - Pathogen KW - Termite KW - Cockroach PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47157 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - The evolution of termite immunity N2 - The termites are a derived eusocial lineage of otherwise non-social cockroaches. Understanding the proximal and ultimate drivers of this major evolutionary transition represents an important goal in biology. One outstanding question concerns the evolution of termite immunity, which is thought to have undergone broad-sweeping adaptations in order to enhance group-level immune protection. To understand the evolutionary origins of termite immunity, we conducted qualitative and quantitative transcriptome analyses along a gradient of sociality. Firstly, we aimed to identify large-scale genetic shifts in immune traits linked to eusociality by comparing immune gene repertoires in solitary and subsocial cockroaches and across a range of eusocial termite lineages. Secondly, we compared the responses of a solitary cockroach, a subsocial wood-roach and different castes of a lower termite species to a non-specific immune challenge, in order to understand how sociality may have influenced the evolution of immune gene regulation. Firstly, we found that termites have a broadly representative repertoire of canonical immune genes as compared to gregarious cockroaches and subsocial wood-roaches. Secondly, with respect to immune challenge, the solitary cockroach and the subsocial wood-roach displayed a similarly comprehensive induced response, while the termite response was considerably dampened by comparison and strongly influenced by caste; with reproductives displaying a generally higher constitutive level of immune-gene expression compared to sterile castes. In summary we did not find termite eusociality to be associated with significant changes in immune gene diversity, but rather to be linked with significant modifications to the regulation of immunity following the origin of division of labour. T2 - BeGenDiv Annual Genomics Symposium 2018 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 02.10.2018 KW - Evolution KW - Immunity KW - Termite PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-471581 AN - OPUS4-47158 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Davis, Hannah E. A1 - Meconcelli, Stefania A1 - Radek, R. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Termites shape their collective behavioural response based on stage of infection N2 - Social insects employ a range of behaviours to protect their colonies against disease, but little is known about how such collective behaviours are orchestrated. This is especially true for the social Blattodea (termites). We developed an experimental approach that allowed us to explore how the social response to disease is co-ordinated by multistep host-pathogen interactions. We infected the eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, and then, at different stages of infection, reintroduced them to healthy nestmates and recorded behavioural responses. As expected, termites groomed pathogen-exposed individuals significantly more than controls; however, grooming was significantly elevated after fungal germination than before, demonstrating the importance of fungal status to hygienic behaviour. Significantly, we found that cannibalism became prevalent only after exposed termites became visibly ill, highlighting the importance of host condition as a cue for social hygienic behaviour. Our study reveals the presence of a coordinated social response to disease that depends on stage of infection. Specifically, we show how the host may play a key role in triggering its own sacrifice. Sacrificial self-flagging has been observed in other social insects: our results demonstrate that termites have independently evolved to both recognize and destructively respond to sickness. KW - Social KW - Immunity KW - Cannibalism KW - Entomopathogen PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-463239 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-32721-7 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 8 SP - 14433, 1 EP - 10 PB - Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-46323 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Wilfert, L. A1 - Paxton, R.J. A1 - Brown, M.J.F. T1 - Emerging viruses in bees: From molecules to ecology N2 - Emerging infectious diseases arise as a result of novel interactions between populations of hosts and pathogens, and can threaten the health and wellbeing of the entire spectrum of biodiversity. Bees andtheir viruses area case in point. However, detailed knowledge of the ecological factors and evolutionary forces that drive disease emergence in bees and other host–pathogen communities is surprisingly lacking. In this review, we build on the fundamental insight that viruses evolve and adapt over timescales that overlap with host ecology. At the same time, we integrate the role of host community ecology, including community structure and composition, biodiversity loss, and human driven disturbance, all of which represent significant factors in bee virus ecology. Both of these evolutionary and ecological perspectives represent major advances but, in most cases, it remains unclear how evolutionary forces actually operate across different biological scales (e.g., from cell to ecosystem). We present a molecule-to-ecology framework to help address these issues, emphasizing the role of molecular mechanisms as keybottom-up drivers of change at higher ecological scales. We consider the bee–virus system to be an ideal one in which to apply this framework. Unlike many other animal models, bees constitute a well characterized and accessible multispecies assemblage, whose populations and interspecific interactions can be experimentally manipulated and monitored in high resolution across space and time to provide robust tests of prevailing theory. KW - Emerging KW - Virus KW - Pathogen KW - Bee KW - Disease PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aivir.2018.02.008 SN - 0065-3527 VL - 101 SP - 251 EP - 291 AN - OPUS4-46324 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ibrahim, B. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Hufsky, F. A1 - Beer, M. A1 - Ding, L. A1 - Le Mercier, P. A1 - Palmarini, M. A1 - Thiel, V. A1 - Marz, M. T1 - A new era of virus bioinformatics N2 - Despite the recognized excellence of virology and bioinformatics, these two communities have interacted surprisingly sporadically, aside from some pioneering work on HIV-1 and influenza. Bringing together the Expertise of bioinformaticians and virologists is crucial, since very specific but fundamental computational approaches are required for virus research, particularly in an era of big data. Collaboration between virologists and bioinformaticians is necessary to improve existing analytical tools, cloud-based systems, computational resources, data sharing approaches, new diagnostic tools, and bioinformatic training. Here, we highlight current progress and discuss potential avenues for future developments in this promising era of virus bioinformatics. We end by presenting an overview of current technologies, and by outlining some of the Major challenges and Advantages that bioinformatics will bring to the field of virology. KW - Bioinformatics virology viruses software PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2018.05.009 SN - 0168-1702 SN - 1872-7492 VL - 251 SP - 86 EP - 90 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-45880 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ibrahim, B. A1 - Arkhipova, K. A1 - Andeweg, A.C. A1 - Posada-Céspedes, S. A1 - Enault, F. A1 - Gruber, A. A1 - Koonin, E.V. A1 - Kupczok, A. A1 - Lemey, P. A1 - McHardy, A.C. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Pickett, B.E. A1 - Robertson, D.L. A1 - Scheuermann, R.H. A1 - Zhernakova, A. A1 - Zwart, M.P. A1 - Schönhuth, A. A1 - Dutilh, B.E. A1 - Marz, M. T1 - Bioinformatics meets virology: The European virus bioinformatics center's second annual meeting N2 - The Second Annual Meeting of the European Virus Bioinformatics Center (EVBC), held in Utrecht, Netherlands, focused on computational approaches in virology, with topics including (but not limited to) virus discovery, diagnostics, (meta-)genomics, modeling, epidemiology, molecular structure, evolution, and viral ecology. The goals of the Second Annual Meeting were threefold: (i) to bring together virologists and bioinformaticians from across the academic, industrial, professional, and training sectors to share best practice; (ii) to provide a meaningful and interactive scientific environment to promote discussion and collaboration between students, postdoctoral fellows, and both new and established investigators; (iii) to inspire and suggest new research directions and questions. Approximately 120 researchers from around the world attended the Second Annual Meeting of the EVBC this year, including 15 renowned international speakers. This report presents an overview of new developments and novel research findings that emerged during the meeting. KW - Bioinformatics KW - Software KW - Virology KW - Viruses PY - 2018 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-458814 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/v10050256 SN - 1999-4915 VL - 10 IS - 5 SP - 256, 1 EP - 19 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-45881 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Oberpaul, M. A1 - Spohn, M. A1 - Fracowiak, J. A1 - Plarre, Rüdiger A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Hammann, P. A1 - Vilcinskas, A. A1 - Gläser, J. T1 - Exploiting termite nest microbiomes for antibiotic discovery by using an ultra-high throughput Microfluidics/FACS driven pipeline combined with a microtiter plate based cultivation strategy N2 - Infections with multi-resistant Gram negative pathogens are a major threat to our health system. In order to serve the needs in antibiotics development we selected untapped bioresources and implemented high throughput approaches suitable for the discovery of strains producing antibiotics with anti-Gram negative activity. Our approaches rely on the hypothesis that Termite associated bacteria are likely to produce potent antibiotics to defend their hosts against entomopathogenic microorganisms. Termite nests and guts harbor suitable, highly diverse microbiomes in which bacterial taxa are present known to potentially produce natural compounds. In a first step the diversity of Coptotermes species nest microbiomes was assessed carefully by using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform and nest material was selected to retrieve viable cells by using Nycodenz density gradient centrifugation. In order to analyze the diversity of the culturable termite nest microbiome, bacterial cells were either distributed in 384-well plates (approach 1) or encapsulated in small spheric agarose beads by an high throughput microfluidics technique (approach 2). Cultures obtained from approach 1 were scaled-up in 96-well Duetz-systems for characterization of diversity and for rapid supernatant screening using the bioluminescence-labeled E. coli pFU166. The generated droplets of approach 2 simultaneously received a small population of GFP-tagged Gram negative screening cells and were sorted for low fluorescence using FACS. After elimination of redundancy we performed a fast scale-up of active strains. Implementation of this pipeline allows us to prioritize antibiotics producing strains in a ultra-high throughput fashion and by cultivation of broad diversity in our approches. T2 - Annual Conference of the Society for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) CY - Wolfsburg, Germany DA - 15.04.18 KW - Biotechnology KW - Termites KW - Anti-microbial effects PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44987 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - He, Shulin A1 - Johnston, P. R. A1 - Kuropka, B. A1 - Lokatis, S. A1 - Weise, C. A1 - Plarre, Rüdiger A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Termite soldiers contribute to social immunity by synthesizing potent oral secretions N2 - The importance of soldiers to termite Society defence has long been recognized, but the contribution of soldiers to other societal functions, such as colony immunity, is less well understood. We explore this issue by examining the role of soldiers in protecting nestmates against pathogen infection. Even though they are unable to engage in grooming behaviour, we find that the presence of soldiers of the Darwin termite, Mastotermes darwiniensis, significantly improves the survival of nestmates following entomopathogenic infection. We also show that the copious exocrine oral secretions produced by Darwin termite soldiers contain a high concentration of Proteins involved in digestion, chemical biosynthesis, and immunity. The oral secretions produced by soldiers are sufficient to protect nestmates against infection, and they have potent inhibitory activity against a broad spectrum of microbes. Our findings support the view that soldiers may play an important role in colony immunity, and broaden our understanding of the possible function of soldiers during the origin of soldier-first societies. KW - External KW - Social KW - Immunity KW - Soldier KW - Antimicrobial KW - Proteome PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/imb.12499 SN - 1365-2583 SN - 0962-1075 VL - 27 IS - 5 SP - 564 EP - 576 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-45726 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franz, Mathias A1 - Armitage, Sophie A.O. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Subasi, Bengisu S. A1 - Rafaluk, Charlotte T1 - Trade-offs in virulence evolution: a Hierarchy-of-Hypotheses approach N2 - Understanding the evolution of virulence, that is, the harm pathogens cause their hosts, has major and wide-spread repercussions. A central concept of virulence evolution is the so-called ‘trade-off hypothesis’, a seemingly straightforward relationship between virulence and transmission. However, substantial ambiguity in terminology related to this hypothesis threatens progress in the field. To address this, we apply a Hierarchy-of-Hypotheses approach to provide structured, visual representations of ideas linked to this hypothesis. We illustrate that the trade-off hypothesis is a complex set of many different hypotheses and trade-offs, and we clarify ambiguities and biases in commonly used terminology in the literature. Thereby, we hope to facilitate a more precise understanding of what the trade-off hypothesis means, enabling more targeted and precise hypothesis testing. KW - Pathogen virulence KW - Trade-off KW - Trade-off hypothesis KW - Virulence evolution PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2025.01.006 SN - 1471-5007 VL - 41 IS - 3 SP - 188 EP - 195 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-62620 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shafiey, Hassan A1 - Gogol-Döring, Andreas A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Doublet, Vincent A1 - Disayathanoowat, Terd A1 - Paxton, Robert J. T1 - A new variant of slow bee paralysis virus revealed by transcriptome analysis N2 - Using NGS data from an RNA-seq library, we reveal a novel variant of slow bee paralysis virus (SBPV) in a pooled sample of adult honey bees (Apis mellifera) collected in southwest Germany. We provide its sequence (NCBI Accession No. PP100271) and demonstrate that it is infective for adult honey bees by feeding. KW - SBPV KW - Apis mellifera KW - +ss RNA virus KW - Iflaviridae KW - Transmission KW - NGS PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-620900 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2024.2425912 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-62090 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - da Silva, Luiza Helena Bueno A1 - Goes, Aryel C. A1 - Rodrigues, Andre A1 - Fourcassié, Vincent A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Haifig, Ives T1 - Social immune response reflects infection progression in a soldierless termite N2 - Social interactions represent a double-edged sword. On one hand, sociality can facilitate sanitary collective behaviours; on the other hand, it creates opportunities for pathogen transmission. In termites, sanitary behaviours can entail a rescuing strategy at early stages of infection, followed by the elimination at later stages. We explored whether the neotropical soldierless species Anoplotermes pacificus employs a progressive approach towards infected nestmates, with different behavioural displays depending on the infection stage. We infected A. pacificus workers with the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae and incubated them for 2, 12, 15 and 20 h, corresponding to infection progression and, therefore, severity. Infected termites were placed with naïve nestmates and their behaviours were recorded for 3 h. Fungus-infected termites triggered up to fourfold higher levels of sanitary behaviour than in non-infected termites. Antennation behaviour decreased during the observation period, whereas sanitary behaviour, which we defined as directed behaviour towards the focal termite involving mouthparts, increased in frequency as incubation duration increased. Sanitary behaviour therefore appears to be a strategy for colony disinfection, which varies in intensity according to infection status, ultimately resulting in the immobilisation of infected individuals at later stages of infection. Alarm responses were also up to three times more frequent in treatment than in control groups and did not vary with incubation duration. A. pacificus workers therefore identify, communicate and respond to pathogen-treated individuals in a progressive manner, indicating that collective responses in this species are also significantly shaped by the stage of infection. By progressively modulating their social immune responses, termites may be able to optimize resource allocation within the colony by balancing the risk of individual infection versus protection of the group. KW - Anoplotermes pacificus KW - Isoptera KW - Infection KW - Metarhizium KW - Social immunity PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-024-03556-2 VL - 79 IS - 1 SP - 1 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC AN - OPUS4-62397 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Natsopoulou, M.E. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Doublet, V. A1 - Bryden, J. A1 - Paxton, R.J. T1 - Interspecific competition in honeybee intracellular gut parasites is asymmetric and favours the spread of an emerging infectious disease N2 - There is increasing appreciation that hosts in natural populations are subject to infection by multiple parasite species. Yet the epidemiological and ecological processes determining the outcome of mixed infections are poorly understood. Here, we use two intracellular gut parasites (Microsporidia), one exotic and one co-evolved in the western honeybee (Apis mellifera), in an experiment in which either one or both parasites were administered either simultaneously or sequentially. We provide clear evidence of within-host competition; order of infection was an important determinant of the competitive outcome between parasites, with the first parasite significantly inhibiting the growth of the second, regardless of species. However, the strength of this 'priority effect' was highly asymmetric, with the exotic Nosema ceranae exhibiting stronger inhibition of Nosema apis than vice versa. Our results reveal an unusual asymmetry in parasite competition that is dependent on order of infection. When incorporated into a mathematical model of disease prevalence, we find asymmetric competition to be an important predictor of the patterns of parasite prevalence found in nature. Our findings demonstrate the wider significance of complex multi-host–multi-parasite interactions as drivers of host–pathogen community structure. KW - Apis mellifera KW - Microsporidia KW - Host KW - Parasite KW - Co-infection KW - Priority effect PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1896 SN - 1471-2954 SN - 0950-1193 SN - 0080-4649 SN - 0962-8452 VL - 282 SP - 20141896, 1 EP - 8 PB - Royal Soc. of London CY - London AN - OPUS4-32883 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fürst, M.A. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Osborne, J.L. A1 - Paxton, R.J. A1 - Brown, M.J.F. T1 - Disease associations between honeybees and bumblebees as a threat to wild pollinators N2 - Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) pose a risk to human welfare, both directly1 and indirectly, by affecting managed livestock and wildlife that provide valuable resources and ecosystem services, such as the pollination of crops2. Honeybees (Apis mellifera), the prevailing managed insect crop pollinator, suffer from a range of emerging and exotic high-impact pathogens3,4, and population maintenance requires active management by beekeepers to control them. Wild pollinators such as bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are in global decline5,6, one cause of which may be pathogen spillover from managed pollinators like honeybees7,8 or commercial colonies of bumblebees9. Here we use a combination of infection experiments and landscape-scale field data to show that honeybee EIDs are indeed widespread infectious agents within the pollinator assemblage. The prevalence of deformed wing virus (DWV) and the exotic parasite Nosema ceranae in honeybees and bumblebees is linked; as honeybees have higher DWV prevalence, and sympatric bumblebees and honeybees are infected by the same DWV strains, Apis is the likely source of at least one major EID in wild pollinators. Lessons learned from vertebrates10,11 highlight the need for increased pathogen control in managed bee species to maintain wild pollinators, as declines in native pollinators may be caused by interspecies pathogen transmission originating from managed pollinators. PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12977 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 506 SP - 364 EP - 366 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London AN - OPUS4-32884 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Fürst, M.A. A1 - Caspar, J. A1 - Theodorou, P. A1 - Brown, M.J.F. A1 - Paxton, R.J. T1 - A sting in the spit: widespread cross-infection of multiple RNA viruses across wild and managed bees N2 - 1.Declining populations of bee pollinators are a cause of concern, with major repercussions for biodiversity loss and food security. RNA viruses associated with honeybees represent a potential threat to other insect pollinators, but the extent of this threat is poorly understood. 2.This study aims to attain a detailed understanding of the current and ongoing risk of emerging infectious disease (EID) transmission between managed and wild pollinator species across a wide range of RNA viruses. 3.Within a structured large-scale national survey across 26 independent sites, we quantify the prevalence and pathogen loads of multiple RNA viruses in co-occurring managed honeybee (Apis mellifera) and wild bumblebee (Bombus spp.) populations. We then construct models that compare virus prevalence between wild and managed pollinators. 4.Multiple RNA viruses associated with honeybees are widespread in sympatric wild bumblebee populations. Virus prevalence in honeybees is a significant predictor of virus prevalence in bumblebees, but we remain cautious in speculating over the principle direction of pathogen transmission. We demonstrate species-specific differences in prevalence, indicating significant variation in disease susceptibility or tolerance. Pathogen loads within individual bumblebees may be high and in the case of at least one RNA virus, prevalence is higher in wild bumblebees than in managed honeybee populations. 5.Our findings indicate widespread transmission of RNA viruses between managed and wild bee pollinators, pointing to an interconnected network of potential disease pressures within and among pollinator species. In the context of the biodiversity crisis, our study emphasizes the importance of targeting a wide range of pathogens and defining host associations when considering potential drivers of population decline. KW - Apis KW - Bombus KW - Decline KW - Pathogen KW - Spillover PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12345 SN - 1365-2656 SN - 0021-8790 VL - 84 SP - 615 EP - 624 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-32885 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mayack, C. A1 - Natsopoulou, M.E. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Nosema ceranae alters a highly conserved hormonal stress pathway in honeybees N2 - Nosema ceranae, an emerging pathogen of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera), is implicated in recent pollinator losses and causes severe energetic stress. However, whether precocious foraging and accelerated behavioural maturation in infected bees are caused by the infection itself or via indirect energetic stress remains unknown. Using a combination of nutritional and infection treatments, we investigated how starvation and infection alters the regulation of adipokinetic hormone (AKH) and octopamine, two highly conserved physiological pathways that respond to energetic stress by mobilizing fat stores and increasing search activity for food. Although there was no response from AKH when bees were experimentally infected with N. ceranae or starved, supporting the notion that honeybees have lost this pathway, there were significant regulatory changes in the octopamine pathway. Significantly, we found no evidence of acute energetic stress being the only cause of symptoms associated with N. ceranae infection. Therefore, the parasite itself appears to alter regulatory components along a highly conserved physiological pathway in an infection-specific manner. This indicates that pathogen-induced behavioural alteration of chronically infected bees should not just be viewed as a coincidental short-term by-product of pathogenesis (acute energetic stress) and may be a result of a generalist manipulation strategy to obtain energy for reproduction. KW - Octopamine KW - Adipokinetic hormone (AKH) KW - Apis mellifera KW - Energetic stress KW - Starvation KW - Hunger PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/imb.12190 SN - 0962-1075 SN - 1365-2583 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-34168 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Termite Immunity (a molecular perspective) N2 - In this presentation, an overview of the termite immune system is given. The presentation covers the mechanistic underpinnings of the canonical immune pathways in insects; where there are areas of conservation or divergence in termites, as well as briefly going over some key gaps in knowledge. External immune capabilities are discussed as well as the implications and consequences of sociality for the evolution of collective immune defense systems in termites. T2 - International Termite Course (ITC) 2025 CY - Davie, FL, USA DA - 10.06.2025 KW - Termite KW - Immunity KW - Molecular KW - Evolution PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64745 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Natsopoulou, M. E. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Doublet, V. A1 - Frey, E. A1 - Rosenkranz, P. A1 - Paxton, R. J. T1 - The virulent, emerging genotype B of Deformed wing virus is closely linked to overwinter honeybee worker loss N2 - Bees are considered to be threatened globally, with severe overwinter losses of the most important commercial pollinator, the Western honeybee, a major concern in the Northern Hemisphere. Emerging infectious diseases have risen to prominence due to their temporal correlation with colony losses. Among these is Deformed wing virus (DWV), which has been frequently linked to colony mortality. We now provide evidence of a strong statistical association between overwintering colony decline in the field and the presence of DWV genotype-B (DWV-B), a genetic variant of DWV that has recently been shown to be more virulent than the original DWV genotype-A. We link the prevalence of DWV-B directly to a quantitative measure of overwinter decline (workforce mortality) of honeybee colonies in the field. We demonstrate that increased prevalence of virus infection in individual bees is associated with higher overwinter mortality. We also observed a substantial reduction of infected colonies in the spring, suggesting that virus-infected individuals had died during the winter. Our findings demonstrate that DWV-B, plus possible A/B recombinants exhibiting DWV-B at PCR primer binding sites, may be a major cause of elevated overwinter honeybee loss. Its potential emergence in naïve populations of bees may have far-reaching ecological and economic impacts. KW - Honeybee KW - Loss KW - Virulence KW - Virus PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-410446 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05596-3 SN - 2045-2322 IS - 7 SP - 5242, 1 EP - 5242, 9 AN - OPUS4-41044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Doublet, V. A1 - Poeschl, Y. A1 - Gogol-Döring, A. A1 - Alaux, C. A1 - Annoscia, D. A1 - Aurori, C. A1 - Barribeau, S. M. A1 - Bedoya-Reina, O. C. A1 - Brown, M. J. F. A1 - Bull, J. C. A1 - Flenniken, M. L. A1 - Galbraith, D. A. A1 - Genersch, E. A1 - Gisder, S. A1 - Grosse, I. A1 - Holt, H. L. A1 - Hultmark, D. A1 - Lattorff, H. M. G. A1 - Le Conte, Y. A1 - Manfredini, F. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Moritz, R. F. A. A1 - Nazzi, F. A1 - Niño, E. L. A1 - Nowick, K. A1 - Van Rij, R. P. A1 - Paxton, R. J. A1 - Grozinger, C. M. T1 - Unity in defence: honeybee workers exhibit conserved molecular responses to diverse pathogens N2 - Background: Organisms typically face infection by diverse pathogens, and hosts are thought to have developed specific responses to each type of pathogen they encounter. The advent of transcriptomics now makes it possible to test this hypothesis and compare host gene expression responses to multiple pathogens at a genome-wide scale. Here, we performed a meta-analysis of multiple published and new transcriptomes using a newly developed bioinformatics approach that filters genes based on their expression profile across datasets. Thereby, we identified common and unique molecular responses of a model host species, the honey bee (Apis mellifera), to its major pathogens and parasites: the Microsporidia Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae, RNA viruses, and the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, which transmits viruses. Results: We identified a common suite of genes and conserved molecular pathways that respond to all investigated pathogens, a result that suggests a commonality in response mechanisms to diverse pathogens. We found that genes differentially expressed after infection exhibit a higher evolutionary rate than non-differentially expressed genes. Using our new bioinformatics approach, we unveiled additional pathogen-specific responses of honey bees; we found that apoptosis appeared to be an important response following microsporidian infection, while genes from the immune signalling pathways, Toll and Imd, were differentially expressed after Varroa/virus infection. Finally, we applied our bioinformatics approach and generated a gene co-expression network to identify highly connected (hub) genes that may represent important mediators and regulators of anti-pathogen responses. Conclusions: Our meta-analysis generated a comprehensive overview of the host metabolic and other biological processes that mediate interactions between insects and their pathogens. We identified key host genes and pathways that respond to phylogenetically diverse pathogens, representing an important source for future functional studies as well as offering new routes to identify or generate pathogen resilient honey bee stocks. The statistical and bioinformatics approaches that were developed for this study are broadly applicable to synthesize information across transcriptomic datasets. These approaches will likely have utility in addressing a variety of biological questions. KW - Coexpression KW - Apis mellifera KW - Nosema KW - Varroa destructor KW - DWV KW - IAPV KW - RNA virus KW - Meta-analysis KW - Transcriptomics PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-410439 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-3597-6 SN - 1471-2164 VL - 18 SP - 207 EP - 224 AN - OPUS4-41043 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, U. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter A1 - Rolff, J. T1 - Exposure of the wild bee Osmia bicornis to the honey bee pathogen Nosema ceranae N2 - Wild bees are important pollinators for agricultural crops and solitary species such as Osmia bicornis are particularly suitable for pollination management. Wild bees share floral resources with managed honey bees and may be exposed to emerging infectious diseases. Although studies have explored the prevalence of pathogens in solitary wild bee species, data regarding the impact of pathogens on solitary bee health are lacking. We carried out experiments examining whether the solitary bee species O. bicornis is susceptible to infection with the emerging pathogen The results obtained indicate that N. ceranae may be able to infect O. bicornis but its impact on host fitness is negligible: survival rates did not differ between Control and inoculated bees, although male survival was marginally lower after infection. To explore the possible field-relevance of our findings, we collected wild bees near an infected and a non-infected hive and showed that N. ceranae was shared between managed and wild bees, although only the in presence of infected honey bees. The findings of the present study show that O. bicornis is susceptible to pathogen spillover and could act as a potential reservoir host for N. ceranae in pollinator networks. Additional studies on this species incorporating sublethal effects, multiple infections and other interacting stressors are warranted. KW - Wild bees KW - Nosema ceranae KW - Osmia bicornis KW - Pathogen spillover KW - Survival rates PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12338 SN - 1461-9555 SN - 1461-9563 VL - 21 IS - 4 SP - 363 EP - 371 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-49648 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -