02250nas a2200277 4500008004100000245008100041210006900122300001000191490000800201520140800209653001401617653001901631653001601650653001401666653002701680653002101707653002901728100002401757700002401781700001901805700002101824700001701845700002301862700002101885856006601906 2004 eng d00aParasite escape mechanisms drive morphological diversification in avian lice0 aParasite escape mechanisms drive morphological diversification i a12 pp0 v2913 a

Organisms that have repeatedly evolved similar morphologies owing to the same selective pressures provide excellent cases in which to examine specific morphological changes and their relevance to the ecology and evolution of taxa. Hosts of permanent parasites act as an independent evolutionary experiment, as parasites on these hosts are thought to be undergoing similar selective pressures. Parasitic feather lice have repeatedly diversified into convergent ecomorphs in different microhabitats on their avian hosts. We quantified specific morphological characters to determine (i) which traits are associated with each ecomorph, (ii) the quantitative differences between these ecomorphs, and (iii) if there is evidence of displacement among co-occurring lice as might be expected under louse–louse competition on the host. We used nano-computed tomography scan data of 89 specimens, belonging to four repeatedly evolved ecomorphs, to examine their mandibular muscle volume, limb length and three-dimensional head shape data. Here, we find evidence that lice repeatedly evolve similar morphologies as a mechanism to escape host defences, but also diverge into different ecomorphs related to the way they escape these defences. Lice that co-occur with other genera on a host exhibit greater morphological divergence, indicating a potential role of competition in evolutionary divergence.

10aBird lice10aco-adaptations10aCT scanning10aEvolution10aGuimaraesiella antiqua10amicro-morphology10aNeopsittaconirmus bushae1 aKOLENCIK, STANISLAV1 aStanley, Edward, L.1 aPunnath, Aswaj1 aGrant, Avery, R.1 aDoña, Jorge1 aJohnson, Kevin, P.1 aAllen, Julie, M. uhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.266501864nas a2200205 4500008004100000022001400041245010600055210006900161260001600230300001200246490000600258520123000264653001601494653001901510653002001529653000901549100001701558700002301575856006001598 2023 eng d a2056-374400aHost body size, not host population size, predicts genome-wide effective population size of parasites0 aHost body size not host population size predicts genomewide effe cJun-05-2023 a285-2920 v73 a

Abstract The effective population size (Ne) of an organism is expected to be generally proportional to the total number of individuals in a population. In parasites, we might expect the effective population size to be proportional to host population size and host body size, because both are expected to increase the number of parasite individuals. However, among other factors, parasite populations are sometimes so extremely subdivided that high levels of inbreeding may distort these predicted relationships. Here, we used whole-genome sequence data from dove parasites (71 feather louse species of the genus Columbicola) and phylogenetic comparative methods to study the relationship between parasite effective population size and host population size and body size. We found that parasite effective population size is largely explained by host body size but not host population size. These results suggest the potential local population size (infrapopulation or deme size) is more predictive of the long-term effective population size of parasites than is the total number of potential parasite infrapopulations (i.e., host individuals).

10acoevolution10aheterozygosity10ainfrapopulation10alice1 aDoña, Jorge1 aJohnson, Kevin, P. uhttps://academic.oup.com/evlett/article/7/4/285/719021101034nas a2200337 4500008004100000022002500041245010800066210006900174260001600243300001200259490000700271653001300278653001000291653000900301653002200310653002800332653001800360653001000378653003100388653001700419653001400436100001700450700002500467700001900492700002300511700003100534700002900565700002400594700001500618856006300633 2018 eng d a0962-1083, 1365-294X00aFeather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers: New insights from DNA metabarcoding and microscopy0 aFeather mites play a role in cleaning host feathers New insights cMay-03-2018 a203-2180 v2810abacteria10abirds10adiet10aDNA metabarcoding10aecological interactions10afeather mites10afungi10ahigh-throughput sequencing10ainteractions10aSymbionts1 aDoña, Jorge1 aProctor, Heather, C.1 aSerrano, David1 aJohnson, Kevin, P.1 avan Oploo, Arnika, Oddy‐1 aHuguet‐Tapia, Jose, C.1 aAscunce, Marina, S.1 aJovani, R. uhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.1458103325nas a2200193 4500008004100000022001400041245007000055210006900125260001600194300001600210490000600226520274900232653001602981653001502997100002303012700002403035700001703059856005503076 2022 eng d a2397-334X00aPhylogenomics reveals the origin of mammal lice out of Afrotheria0 aPhylogenomics reveals the origin of mammal lice out of Afrotheri cJul-04-2022 a1205–12100 v63 a

Mammals host a wide diversity of parasites. Lice, comprising more than 5,000 species, are one group of ectoparasites whose major lineages have a somewhat patchwork distribution across the major groups of mammals. Here we explored patterns in the diversification of mammalian lice by reconstructing a higher-level phylogeny of these lice, leveraging whole genome sequence reads to assemble single-copy orthologue genes across the genome. The evolutionary tree of lice indicated that three of the major lineages of placental mammal lice had a single common ancestor. Comparisons of this parasite phylogeny with that for their mammalian hosts indicated that the common ancestor of elephants, elephant shrews and hyraxes (that is, Afrotheria) was the ancestral host of this group of lice. Other groups of placental mammals obtained their lice via host-switching out of these Afrotherian ancestors. In addition, reconstructions of the ancestral host group (bird versus mammal) for all parasitic lice supported an avian ancestral host, indicating that the ancestor of Afrotheria acquired these parasites via host-switching from an ancient avian host. These results shed new light on the long-standing question of why the major groups of parasitic lice are not uniformly distributed across mammals and reveal the origins of mammalian lice.

Supplentary Information from publisher website

Supplentary tables 1 and 2 see https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41559-022-01803-1/MediaObjects/41559_2022_1803_MOESM1_ESM.pdf or attachment 95701 sup table 1.pdf

Extended data  Fig 1 see https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01803-1/figures/3 or attahment 95701 extended Fig. 1.pdf

Extended data Fig 2 see https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01803-1/figures/4 or attachment 95701 extended Fig 2.pdf

Extended data Fig 3 see https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01803-1/figures/5 or attachment 95701 extended Fig3. pdf

For some web reports of the publications see:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau. "Coevolution of mammals and their lice." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 July 2022. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220704180926.htm

Lice originated on the common ancestor of Afrotheria, study by Amit Malewar, July 5, 2022 16:03 IST TECH EXPLORIST-Science -https://www.techexplorist.com/lice-originated-common-ancestor-afrotheria-study/52315/

Study explores coevolution of mammals and their lice, by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , uly 4, 2022 in Physic. Org - Biology-Evolution https://phys.org/news/2022-07-explores-coevolution-mammals-lice.html

10acoevolution10aspeciation1 aJohnson, Kevin, P.1 aMatthee, Conrad, A.1 aDoña, Jorge uhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01803-102200nas a2200349 4500008004100000022001400041245004000055210003800095260001600133300001000149490000800159520121800167653002701385653001701412653003201429653003201461653001601493653001401509100002301523700002001546700002001566700001701586700002601603700002001629700002101649700002201670700002101692700002101713700001801734700002201752856007601774 2020 eng d a0006-320700aA global parasite conservation plan0 aglobal parasite conservation plan cOct-01-2020 a12 pp0 v2503 a

Highlights

Found throughout the tree of life and in every ecosystem, parasites are some of the most diverse, ecologically important animals on Earth—but in almost all cases, the least protected by wildlife or ecosystem conservation efforts. For decades, ecologists have been calling for research to understand parasites' important ecological role, and increasingly, to protect as many species from extinction as possible. However, most conservationists still work within priority systems for funding and effort that exclude or ignore parasites, or treat parasites as an obstacle to be overcome. Our working group identified 12 goals for the next decade that could advance parasite biodiversity conservation through an ambitious mix of research, advocacy, and management.

10aBiodiversity inventory10acoextinction10aConservation prioritization10anatural history collections10aRed listing10aSymbionts1 aCarlson, Colin, J.1 aHopkins, Skylar1 aBell, Kayce, C.1 aDoña, Jorge1 aGodfrey, Stephanie, S1 aKwak, Mackenzie1 aLafferty, K., D.1 aMoir, Melinda, L.1 aSpeer, Kelly, A.1 aStrona, Giovanni1 aTorchin, Mark1 aWood, Chelsea, L. uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000632071931993702334nas a2200229 4500008004100000022001400041245006500055210006500120260001600185300000900201490000800210520164500218653001601863653002201879653002401901653001801925653003101943653001401974100001701988700002302005856007602028 2020 eng d a0006-320700aAssessing symbiont extinction risk using cophylogenetic data0 aAssessing symbiont extinction risk using cophylogenetic data cOct-01-2020 a8 pp0 v2503 a

Highlights

Symbionts have a unique mode of life that has attracted the attention of ecologists and evolutionary biologists for centuries. As a result of this attention, these disciplines have produced a mature body of literature on host-symbiont interactions. In contrast, the discipline of symbiont conservation is still in a foundational stage. Here, we aim to integrate methodologies for symbiont coevolutionary biology with symbiont conservation. We focus on host-symbiont cophylogenies, because they have been widely used to study symbiont diversification history and contain information on symbiont extinction. However, cophylogenetic information has never been used nor adapted to the perspective of conservation. Here, we propose a new statistic, “cophylogenetic extinction rate” (Ec), which is based on coevolutionary knowledge from event-based cophylogenetic analyses and could be informative to assess relative symbiont extinction risks. Finally, we propose potential future research to further develop methods to estimate symbiont extinction risk from cophylogenetic analyses, and to continue the integration of this existing knowledge of coevolutionary biology and cophylogenetics into future symbiont conservation studies and practices.

10acoevolution10aCoextinction risk10aConservation biolog10aCophylogenies10aHost-symbiont interactions10aparasites1 aDoña, Jorge1 aJohnson, Kevin, P. uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000632072030763102282nas a2200289 4500008004100000022001400041245009600055210006900151260001600220300001000236490000700246520138800253653003301641653001801674653002801692653000901720653001501729653002701744653002501771653001301796100001701809700003101826700001701857700002301874700002301897856007201920 2021 eng d a1664-302X00aPatterns of Microbiome Variation Among Infrapopulations of Permanent Bloodsucking Parasites0 aPatterns of Microbiome Variation Among Infrapopulations of Perma cApr-16-2021 a13 pp0 v123 a

While interspecific variation in microbiome composition can often be readily explained by factors such as host species identity, there is still limited knowledge of how microbiomes vary at scales lower than the species level (e.g., between individuals or populations). Here, we evaluated variation in microbiome composition of individual parasites among infrapopulations (i.e., populations of parasites of the same species living on a single host individual). To address this question, we used genome-resolved and shotgun metagenomic data of 17 infrapopulations (balanced design) of the permanent, bloodsucking seal louse Echinophthirius horridus sampled from individual Saimaa ringed seals Pusa hispida saimensis. Both genome-resolved and read-based metagenomic classification approaches consistently show that parasite infrapopulation identity is a significant factor that explains both qualitative and quantitative patterns of microbiome variation at the intraspecific level. This study contributes to the general understanding of the factors driving patterns of intraspecific variation in microbiome composition, especially of bloodsucking parasites, and has implications for understanding how well-known processes occurring at higher taxonomic levels, such as phylosymbiosis, might arise in these systems.

10agenome-resolved metagenomics10ahost-symbiont10aintraspecific variation10alice10amicrobiota10aPusa hispida saimensis10ashotgun metagenomics10asymbiont1 aDoña, Jorge1 aVirrueta-Herrera, Stephany1 aNyman, Tommi1 aKunnasranta, Mervi1 aJohnson, Kevin, P. uhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.642543/full02961nas a2200217 4500008004100000022001400041245013400055210006900189260001300258300001000271490000800281520223800289653001602527653001902543653001302562100002302575700002502598700003102623700001702654856007202671 2021 eng d a1055-790300aThe interplay between host biogeography and phylogeny in structuring diversification of the feather louse genus Penenirmus0 ainterplay between host biogeography and phylogeny in structuring cDec-2021 a12 pp0 v1653 a

Highlights:

Parasite diversification is influenced by many of the same factors that affect speciation of free-living organisms, such as biogeographic barriers. However, the ecology and evolution of the host lineage also has a major impact on parasite speciation. Here we explore the interplay between biogeography and host-association on the pattern of diversification in a group of ectoparasitic lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Penenirmus) that feeds on the feathers of woodpeckers, barbets, and honeyguides (Piciformes) and some songbirds (Passeriformes). We use whole genome sequencing of 41 ingroup and 12 outgroup samples to develop a phylogenomic dataset of DNA sequences from a reference set of 2395 single copy ortholog genes, for a total of nearly four million aligned base positions. The phylogenetic trees resulting from both concatenated and gene-tree/species-tree coalescent analyses were nearly identical and highly supported. These trees recovered the genus Penenirmus as monophyletic and identified several major clades, which tended to be associated with one major host group. However, cophylogenetic analysis revealed that host-switching was a prominent process in the diversification of this group. This host-switching generally occurred within single major biogeographic regions. We did, however, find one case in which it appears that a rare dispersal event by a woodpecker lineage from North America to Africa allowed its associated louse to colonize a woodpecker in Africa, even though the woodpecker lineage from North America never became established there

10acoevolution10ahost-switching10aparasite1 aJohnson, Kevin, P.1 aWeckstein, Jason, D.1 aVirrueta-Herrera, Stephany1 aDoña, Jorge uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105579032100230X01633nas a2200181 4500008004100000245010100041210006900142260001300211300000800224490000600232520105700238653001601295653002401311100001701335700002201352700002301374856005401397 2020 eng d00aComparing rates of introgression in parasitic feather lice with differing dispersal capabilities0 aComparing rates of introgression in parasitic feather lice with  cOct-2020 a6pp0 v33 a

Organisms vary in their dispersal abilities, and these differences can have important biological consequences, such as impacting the likelihood of hybridization events. However, there is still much to learn about the factors influencing hybridization, and specifically how dispersal ability affects the opportunities for hybridization. Here, using the ecological replicate system of dove wing and body lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera), we show that species with higher dispersal abilities exhibited increased genomic signatures of introgression. Specifically, we found a higher proportion of introgressed genomic reads and more reticulated phylogenetic networks in wing lice, the louse group with higher dispersal abilities. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that differences in dispersal ability might drive the extent of introgression through hybridization.

The preprint version 1 entitled, Parasite dispersal influences introgression rate, can be found in http://phthiraptera.info/node/95185

 

10acoevolution10apopulation genetics1 aDoña, Jorge1 aSweet, Andrew, D.1 aJohnson, Kevin, P. uhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01345-x02192nas a2200145 4500008004100000245005300041210005300094260001200147490001400159520175800173100001701931700002201948700002301970856005301993 2019 eng d00aParasite dispersal influences introgression rate0 aParasite dispersal influences introgression rate c01-20190 vVersion 13 a

This is a preprint version 1.

Dispersal is a central process in biology with implications at multiple scales of organization1,2,3,4. Organisms vary in their dispersal abilities, and these differences can have important biological consequences, such as impacting the likelihood of hybridization events5. However, the factors shaping the frequency of hybridization are still poorly understood, and therefore how dispersal ability affects the opportunities for hybridization is still unknown. Here, using the ecological replicate system of dove wing and body lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera)6, we show that species with higher dispersal abilities exhibited increased genomic signatures of introgression. Specifically, we found a higher proportion of introgressed genomic reads and more reticulated phylogenetic networks in wing lice, the louse group with higher dispersal abilities. Our results illustrate how differences in dispersal ability can drive differences in the extent of introgression through hybridization. The results from this study represent an important step for understanding the factors driving hybridization. We expect our approach will stimulate future studies on the ecological factors shaping hybridization to further understand this important process

The latest version of this with a change in title published in August 2020 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/527226v8.article-info, under the title:  Comparing rates of introgression in parasitic feather lice with differing dispersal capabilities. Now published in Communications Biology doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01345-x

Published version see also http://phthiraptera.info/node/95186

 

 

 

 

1 aDoña, Jorge1 aSweet, Andrew, D.1 aJohnson, Kevin, P. uhttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/527226v102775nas a2200193 4500008004100000245009200041210006900133260001200202300000900214490000600223520217800229100001702407700002902424700002302453700001902476700001702495700001502512856005402527 2019 eng d00aPersistence of single species of symbionts across multiple closely-related host species0 aPersistence of single species of symbionts across multiple close c11-2019 a7 pp0 v93 a

Some symbiont species are highly host-specific, inhabiting only one or a very few host species, and typically have limited dispersal abilities. When they do occur on multiple host species, populations of such symbionts are expected to become genetically structured across these different host species, and this may eventually lead to new symbiont species over evolutionary timescales. However, a low number of dispersal events of symbionts between host species across time might be enough to prevent population structure and species divergence. Overall, processes of evolutionary divergence and the species status of most putative multi-host symbiont systems are yet to be investigated. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding data of 6,023 feather mites (a total of 2,225 OTU representative sequences) from 147 infracommunities (i.e., the assemblage consisting of all mites of different species collected from the same bird host individual) to investigate patterns of population genetic structure and species status of three different putative multi-host feather mite species Proctophyllodes macedo Vitzthum, 1922, Proctophyllodes motacillae Gaud, 1953, and Trouessartia jedliczkai (Zimmerman, 1894), each of which inhabits a variable number of different closely related wagtail host species (genus Motacilla). We show that mite populations from different host species represent a single species. This pattern was found in all the mite species, suggesting that each of these species is a multi-host species in which dispersal of mites among host species prevents species divergence. Also, we found evidence of limited evolutionary divergence manifested by a low but significant level of population genetic structure among symbiont populations inhabiting different host species. Our study agrees with previous studies showing a higher than expected colonization opportunities in host-specific symbionts. Indeed, our results support that these dispersal events would allow the persistence of multi-host species even in symbionts with limited dispersal capabilities, though additional factors such as the geographical structure of some bird populations may also play a role.

1 aDoña, Jorge1 aOsuna-Mascaró, Carolina1 aJohnson, Kevin, P.1 aSerrano, David1 aAymí, Raül1 aJovani, R. uhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-54015-2