Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes

ABSTRACT This essay is written from the vantage point of the microbial world. While the focus of much thought in the microbial pathogenesis and infectious diseases fields has been on the impact of host-microbe interaction on the host, here we ask questions about what happens to the microbe. What are...

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Autores principales:	Arturo Casadevall, Liise-anne Pirofski
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2019
Materias:	benefits costs microbial virulence Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/162907b878fe4510a9842816407ee8f7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:162907b878fe4510a9842816407ee8f72021-11-15T15:55:25ZBenefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes10.1128/mBio.00863-192150-7511https://doaj.org/article/162907b878fe4510a9842816407ee8f72019-06-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.00863-19https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT This essay is written from the vantage point of the microbial world. While the focus of much thought in the microbial pathogenesis and infectious diseases fields has been on the impact of host-microbe interaction on the host, here we ask questions about what happens to the microbe. What are the costs and benefits for microbes of having the capacity for virulence? Our exploration of this topic leads us to conclude that virulence confers very few benefits for microbes, unless disease is necessary for microbial survival through host-to-host spread. In fact, the capacity for virulence is often fraught with risk for microbes, including host dependence and the threat of extinction. The costs of virulence may explain why, relative to their enormous numbers in nature, very few microbes are actually associated with human and animal disease.Arturo CasadevallLiise-anne PirofskiAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticlebenefitscostsmicrobialvirulenceMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 10, Iss 3 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	benefits costs microbial virulence Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	benefits costs microbial virulence Microbiology QR1-502 Arturo Casadevall Liise-anne Pirofski Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
description	ABSTRACT This essay is written from the vantage point of the microbial world. While the focus of much thought in the microbial pathogenesis and infectious diseases fields has been on the impact of host-microbe interaction on the host, here we ask questions about what happens to the microbe. What are the costs and benefits for microbes of having the capacity for virulence? Our exploration of this topic leads us to conclude that virulence confers very few benefits for microbes, unless disease is necessary for microbial survival through host-to-host spread. In fact, the capacity for virulence is often fraught with risk for microbes, including host dependence and the threat of extinction. The costs of virulence may explain why, relative to their enormous numbers in nature, very few microbes are actually associated with human and animal disease.
format	article
author	Arturo Casadevall Liise-anne Pirofski
author_facet	Arturo Casadevall Liise-anne Pirofski
author_sort	Arturo Casadevall
title	Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
title_short	Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
title_full	Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
title_fullStr	Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
title_full_unstemmed	Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes
title_sort	benefits and costs of animal virulence for microbes
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/162907b878fe4510a9842816407ee8f7
work_keys_str_mv	AT arturocasadevall benefitsandcostsofanimalvirulenceformicrobes AT liiseannepirofski benefitsandcostsofanimalvirulenceformicrobes
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Benefits and Costs of Animal Virulence for Microbes

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