title: Environmental dependency of amphibian-ranavirus genotypic interactions: evolutionary perspectives on infectious diseases.
abstract: The context-dependent investigations of host-pathogen genotypic interactions, where environmental factors are explicitly incorporated, allow the assessment of both coevolutionary history and contemporary ecological influences. Such a functional explanatory framework is particularly valuable for describing mortality trends and identifying drivers of disease risk more accurately. Using two common North American frog species (Lithobates pipiens and Lithobates sylvaticus) and three strains of frog virus 3 (FV3) at different temperatures, we conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the influence of host species/genotype, ranavirus strains, temperature, and their interactions, in determining mortality and infection patterns. Our results revealed variability in host susceptibility and strain infectivity along with significant host-strain interactions, indicating that the outcome of an infection is dependent on the specific combination of host and virus genotypes. Moreover, we observed a strong influence of temperature on infection and mortality probabilities, revealing the potential for genotype-genotype-environment interactions to be responsible for unexpected mortality in this system. Our study thus suggests that amphibian hosts and ranavirus strains genetic characteristics should be considered in order to understand infection outcomes and that the investigation of coevolutionary mechanisms within a context-dependent framework provides a tool for the comprehensive understanding of disease dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Genetics and Ecology of Amphibians Research Group (GEARG), Laurentian University Sudbury, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Echaubard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Genetics and Ecology of Amphibians Research Group (GEARG), Laurentian University Sudbury, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leduc
authors.affiliation: Science and Technology Branch, National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment Canada, Carleton University Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center Jackson, MS, USA.
authors.forename: V Gregory
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Chinchar
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Genetics and Ecology of Amphibians Research Group (GEARG), Laurentian University Sudbury, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lesbarrères
keywords: Lithobates pipiens; Lithobates sylvaticus; genotype–genotype–environment interactions; host–pathogen interactions; ranavirus.