Immunogenetic Interactions: Assessing the Capacity of Northern Species to Adapt to Infectious Disease

气候变化正在迅速改变疾病动态，病原体在以前不适宜居住/无法进入的环境中定居，几种新出现的疾病证明了这一点。我的研究项目感兴趣的是物种对疾病做出反应的适应潜力，总体目标是预测和减轻对生物多样性的威胁。目前的建议通过对与免疫反应相关的遗传变异进行全面扫描，来调查物种适应疾病的能力。具体地说，我的目标是回答以下问题：1)免疫基因变异是否与局部疾病适应有关？2)物种局部适应疾病的能力是否受到限制？3)在没有遗传变异的情况下，局部适应疾病是否会发生？我的研究系统包括北方哺乳动物种群，以评估被认为局部适应能力较低的物种对新出现疾病的遗传反应。这些系统包括狐狸的北极狂犬病，导致北美东部蝙蝠数量锐减的白鼻菌，以及正在急剧下降的麝香种群中新发现的一种毁灭性的细菌疾病。这项工作的影响包括澄清暴露于新出现疾病的北方物种的局部适应潜力。因此，我的研究将加强和指导旨在减轻传染病对人类和野生动物健康、生物多样性和粮食安全的负面影响的有效和有针对性的管理行动。我的研究还采取了一种创新的、多管齐下的方法，利用尖端基因组技术获取和评估遗传变异，以加深我们对物种基因组与环境相互作用的理解。这种方法有可能改变我们评估来自大量个体的大量基因的遗传变异的方式，将野生动物疾病的研究从与疾病结果和局部适应相关的遗传关系转移到因果遗传关系。总体而言，我的研究将产生经验数据，为预测模型奠定基础，以增强我们预测不同气候情景下流行性疾病传播和影响的能力。

Disease dynamics are rapidly being altered by climatic changes, with pathogens colonizing previously inhospitable/inaccessible environments as evidenced by several emerging diseases. My research program is interested in the adaptive potential of species to respond to disease with the overarching objective of predicting and mitigating threats to biodiversity. The current proposal investigates the capacity of species to adapt to disease by performing comprehensive scans of genetic variation associated with an immune response. Specifically, I aim to answer the following questions:1) can immune gene variation be associated with local adaptation to disease?2) are there constraints on the capacity for species to locally adapt to disease?3) can local adaptation to disease occur in the absence genetic variation?My study systems include northern mammalian populations to assess genetic responses to emerging diseases in species thought to have a low capacity for local adaptation. These systems include Arctic rabies in foxes, White Nose fungus that has decimated bat populations across eastern North America, and a newly discovered, and devastating bacterial disease in muskox populations that are undergoing precipitous declines. The impact of this work includes clarifying the potential for local adaptation in northern species exposed to emerging diseases. Thus, my research will enhance and guide effective and targeted management actions aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of infectious diseases on human and wildlife health, biodiversity and food security. My research also takes an innovative, multi-pronged approach to acquiring and assessing genetic variation using cutting-edge genomic technologies to further our understanding of how species' genomes interact with with their environments. This approach has the potential to transform how we assess genetic variation from a large number of genes from a large number of individuals, moving wildlife disease studies from correlative to causative genetic relationships with disease outcome and local adaptation. Overall, my research will generate empirical data that set the basis for predictive models to enhance our ability to anticipate epizootic disease spread and impacts under different climatic scenarios.