Molecular Epidemiology and Virulence of URTD

URTD 的分子流行病学和毒力

• 批准号: 6869162
• 负责人: LORI D WENDLAND
• 金额: $ 9.2万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-04-01 至 2009-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6869162
• 关键词: Chelonia; Mycoplasma; antibody specificity; bacterial genetics; disease vectors; emerging infectious disease; epizootiology; genetic strain; immunologic assay /test; population genetics; respiratory infections; veterinary science; virulence; wild animals; zoonosis

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many newly emerging diseases are caused by zoonotic agents with wildlife reservoirs or have resulted from Iarge-scale ecological changes that increase human exposure to insect vectors as well as to animal and environmental sources of disease. Approximately 80% of the infectious agents that cause disease in humans are shared with various animal hosts. Veterinarians are good candidates to study these emerging diseases, but training programs aimed at disease pathogenesis and epidemiology specifically tailored to wildlife diseases are lacking. The proposed training will provide a multidisciplinary program in infectious diseases, pathogenesis, molecular diagnostic methodologies, pathology, fundamentals of laboratory animal medicine, epidemiology and disease modeling. The model system chosen for the research component, upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) in gopher tortoises, is an excellent example of chronic disease in a nontraditional animal host. URTD represents an intriguing model to study establishment, transmission, maintenance, and consequences of chronic infection within a population with a life history that parallels humans. The proposed study will address the following hypotheses: (1) URTD is caused by a cluster of closely related mycoplasmal species. The specific species involved may vary within tortoise populations, and these species may differ regionally and, (2) Mycoplasmas vary in virulence, and the specific mycoplasma present in a given population will influence the transmission, clinical course and severity of URTD. The hypotheses will be addressed with the following specific aims: (1) To characterize the molecular epidemiology of mycoplasmal species and selected strains obtained from different tortoise populations; (2) To characterize the virulence of mycoplasmal species and selected strains obtained from different tortoise populations; (3) To develop a multi-plex Luminex assay for quantitation of antibodies to mycoplasmal species from tortoises; and (4) To identify genes associated with virulent and avirulent mycoplasmal species and selected strains. The study of a chronic respiratory infection in a natural population will provide a framework for the development of predictive and casual models that may provide valuable insights into the mechanisms by which chronic infections are maintained and transmitted on a population basis.

描述（由申请人提供）：许多新出现的疾病是由具有野生动植物储层的人畜共患药引起的，或者是由IARGE规模的生态变化引起的，这些变化增加了人类对昆虫媒介的暴露以及对疾病的动物和环境来源。大约80％的传染剂与各种动物宿主共享引起人类疾病的传染病。兽医是研究这些新兴疾病的好候选人，但是缺乏针对疾病发病机理和流行病学的培训计划，专门针对野生动植物疾病量身定制。拟议的培训将在传染病，发病机理，分子诊断方法，病理学，实验室动物医学，流行病学和疾病建模方面提供多学科计划。为研究组件选择的模型系统，地嘴龟中的上呼吸道疾病（URTD），是非传统动物宿主中慢性疾病的一个很好的例子。 URTD代表了一个有趣的模型，用于研究具有与人类平行的人生历史的人群中慢性感染的建立，传播，维护和后果。拟议的研究将解决以下假设：（1）URTD是由一群密切相关的细菌种类引起的。涉及的特定物种可能在乌龟种群中有所不同，这些物种可能在区域上有所不同，（2）毒力上的支原体有所不同，并且给定种群中存在的特定支原体会影响URTD的传播，临床过程和严重程度。这些假设将以以下特定目的来解决：（1）表征霉菌种类的分子流行病学和从不同乌龟种群获得的菌株； （2）表征来自不同乌龟种群获得的支原体物种的毒力和选定的菌株； （3）开发一种多质子发光测定，以定量乌龟对霉菌种类的抗体； （4）鉴定与毒和无毒的支原体物种和选定菌株相关的基因。对自然人群中慢性呼吸道感染的研究将为开发预测性和随意模型提供一个框架，这些模型可能会为维持慢性感染和在人群基础上传播的机制提供宝贵的见解。