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Cross-species transmission and evolutionary dynamics of canine distemper virus during a spillover in African lions of Serengeti National Park

  1. Author:
    Weckworth, Julie K
    Davis, Brian W
    Dubovi, Edward
    Fountain-Jones, Nicholas [ORCID]
    Packer, Craig
    Cleaveland, Sarah
    Craft, Meggan E
    Eblate, Ernest
    Schwartz, Michael
    Mills, L Scott
    Roelke-Parker,Melody

  2. Author Address

    Wildlife Biology Program, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, W. A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA., Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas, USA., Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA., Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA., Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA., The Boyd Orr Centre for Population and Ecosystem Health, Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Heal and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland., Nelson Mandela African Institution for Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania., Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Arusha, Tanzania., Department of Agriculture, National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest Service, Missoula, MT, USA., Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA., Wildlife Biology Program and Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Scholarship, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA., Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA.,
    1. Year: 2020
    2. Date: MAY 15
    3. Epub Date: 2020 04 18
  2. Journal: Molecular ecology
  4. Type of Article: Article
  5. ISSN: 0962-1083
  1. Abstract:

    The outcome of pathogen spillover from a reservoir to a novel host population can range from a "dead-end" when there is no onward transmission in the recipient population, to epidemic spread and even establishment in new hosts. Understanding the evolutionary epidemiology of spillover events leading to discrete outcomes in novel hosts is key to predicting risk and can lead to a better understanding of mechanisms of emergence. Here we use a Bayesian phylodynamic approach to examine cross-species transmission and evolutionary dynamics during a canine distemper virus spillover event causing clinical disease and population decline in an African lion population (Panthera leo) in the Serengeti Ecological Region between 1993 and 1994. Using 21 near-complete viral genomes from four species we found that this large-scale outbreak was likely ignited by a single cross-species spillover event from a canid reservoir to non-canid hosts less than one year before disease detection and explosive spread of CDV in lions. Cross-species transmission from other non-canid species likely fueled the high prevalence of CDV across spatially structured lion prides. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) could have acted as the proximate source of CDV exposure in lions. We report thirteen nucleotide substitutions segregating CDV strains found in canids and non-canids. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that virus evolution played a role in CDV emergence in non-canid hosts following spillover during the outbreak, and suggests that host barriers to clinical infection can limit outcomes of CDV spillover in novel host species. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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External Sources

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  2. DOI: 10.1111/mec.15449
  3. PMID: 32306443
  4. View record in Web of Science®
  5. WOS: 000532692700001

Library Notes

  1. Fiscal Year: FY2019-2020
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