Bacterial Genomics Reveal the Complex Epidemiology of an Emerging Pathogen in Arctic and Boreal Ungulates
Open accessAbstract
Northern ecosystems are currently experiencing unprecedented ecological change, largely driven by a rapidly changing climate. Pathogen range expansion, and emergence and altered patterns of infectious disease, are increasingly reported in wildlife at high latitudes. Understanding the causes and consequences of shifting pathogen diversity and host-pathogen interactions in these ecosystems is important for wildlife conservation, and for indigenous populations that depend on wildlife. Among the key questions are whether disease events are associated with endemic or recently introduced pathogens, and whether emerging strains are spreading throughout the region. In this study, we used a phylogenomic approach to address these questions of pathogen endemicity and spread for Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, an opportunistic multi-host bacterial pathogen associated with recent mortalities in arctic and boreal ungulate populations in North America. We isolated E. rhusiopathiae from carcasses associated with large-scale die-offs of muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and from contemporaneous mortality events and/or population declines among muskoxen in northwestern Alaska and caribou and moose in western Canada. Bacterial genomic diversity differed markedly among these locations; minimal divergence was present among isolates from muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic, while in caribou and moose populations, strains from highly divergent clades were isolated from the same location, or even from within a single carcass. These results indicate that mortalities among northern ungulates are not associated with a single emerging strain of E. rhusiopathiae, and that alternate hypotheses need to be explored. Our study illustrates the value and limitations of bacterial genomic data for discriminating between ecological hypotheses of disease emergence, and highlights the importance of studying emerging pathogens within the broader context of environmental and host factors.
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Acute and extensive infectious disease associated summer mortalities in Alaska and Canada coincided with population declines of up to 85%.
“For example, acute and extensive infectious disease associated summer mortalities in Alaska and Canada coincided with population declines of up to 85% (Kutz et al. 2015; Forde et al. 2016)”
From Muskox status, recent variation, and uncertain future (2020) · cites this paper as Forde et al. 2016
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports acute disease-associated muskox deaths in the Canadian Arctic, June–August mortality among Alaskan muskoxen, and population declines in parts of Canada. It reports declines of more than 50% for the affected island muskox populations and 50–70% for moose in British Columbia, but does not substantiate the claimed figure of up to 85%. It also says the extent to which the disease-associated deaths contributed to the island population declines is unknown. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInfection by Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is among the factors contributing to the decline of the Banks Island muskox population.
“Among the factors contributing to this decline include infection by a new bacterial pathogen Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae”
From Chromosomal-level reference genome assembly of muskox (Ovibos moschatus) from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, a resource for conservation genomics (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
The Introduction links E. rhusiopathiae septicemia to acute muskox deaths on Banks Island and reports a population decline. It says the extent to which those deaths contributed to the decline is unknown, although high adult mortality likely had a population-level impact. The citing sentence presents that contribution as established rather than likely. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThere have been recent fatal outbreaks of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae in muskox.
“the recent fatal outbreaks of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae”
From Chromosomal-level reference genome assembly of muskox (Ovibos moschatus) from Banks Island in the Canadian Arctic, a resource for conservation genomics (2024) · cites this paper as [23]
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References 68 · Cited by 50
Research works printed but not linked: 8
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- Authors
- Forde, T. L., Orsel, K., Zadoks, R. N., Biek, R., Adams, L. G., Checkley, S. L., Davison, T., De Buck, J., Dumond, M., Elkin, B. T., Finnegan, L., Macbeth, B. J., Nelson, C., Niptanatiak, A., Sather, S., Schwantje, H. M., van der Meer, F., & Kutz, S. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- Government of Northwest Territories (CA)
- Government of Nunavut (CA)
- fRI Research (CA)
- Government of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Kutz, Susan J.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Microbiology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2016-11-07
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 1759-1759
- ISSN
- 1664-302X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5097903
- OpenAlex
- W2546597285
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 2.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Microbiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- University of Calgary
- Weyerhaeuser Company
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Zoonotic diseases and public health
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Microbial infections and disease research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
- Keywords
- Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, emerging pathogens, wildlife disease, Ovibos moschatus, reindeer, moose, ungulate mortality, bacterial genomic diversity, phylogenomics, host-pathogen interaction, climate change, disease emergence, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, northwestern Alaska
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