Abstract
This review examines the phenomenon of co-feeding transmission in tick-borne pathogens. This mode of transmission is critical for the epidemiology of several tick-borne viruses but its importance for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, is still controversial. The molecular mechanisms and ecological factors that facilitate co-feeding transmission are therefore examined with particular emphasis on Borrelia pathogens. Comparison of climate, tick ecology and experimental infection work suggests that co-feeding transmission is more important in European than North American systems of Lyme borreliosis, which potentially explains why this topic has gained more traction in the former continent than the latter. While new theory shows that co-feeding transmission makes a modest contribution to Borrelia fitness, recent experimental work has revealed new ecological contexts where natural selection might favour co-feeding transmission. In particular, co-feeding transmission might confer a fitness advantage in the Darwinian competition among strains in mixed infections. Future studies should investigate the ecological conditions that favour the evolution of this fascinating mode of transmission in tick-borne pathogens.
Highlights
SUMMARYThis review examines the phenomenon of co-feeding transmission in tick-borne pathogens
Co-feeding transmission is a mode of transmission that has been reported for a wide diversity of vectorborne pathogens (Jones et al 1987; Randolph et al 1996; Mead et al 2000; Higgs et al 2005)
With respect to tick-borne pathogens, this mode of transmission was first discovered for tick-borne viruses such as Thogoto virus (Jones et al 1987) and tickborne encephalitis virus (TBEV) (Alekseev and Chunikhin, 1990; Labuda et al 1993a, b) and was subsequently described in Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s. l.), the complex of spirochaete bacteria that causes Lyme borreliosis (Gern and Rais, 1996; Randolph et al 1996)
Summary
This review examines the phenomenon of co-feeding transmission in tick-borne pathogens. This mode of transmission is critical for the epidemiology of several tick-borne viruses but its importance for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, is still controversial. The molecular mechanisms and ecological factors that facilitate co-feeding transmission are examined with particular emphasis on Borrelia pathogens. Comparison of climate, tick ecology and experimental infection work suggests that co-feeding transmission is more important in European than North American systems of Lyme borreliosis, which potentially explains why this topic has gained more traction in the former continent than the latter. Future studies should investigate the ecological conditions that favour the evolution of this fascinating mode of transmission in tick-borne pathogens
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