Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features

ABSTRACT Virulence has been proposed to be an emergent property, which by definition implies that it is not reducible to its components, but this application of a philosophical concept to the host-microbe interaction has not been experimentally tested. The goals of our study were to analyze the corr...

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Autores principales:	Monica A. Garcia-Solache, David Izquierdo-Garcia, Cameron Smith, Aviv Bergman, Arturo Casadevall
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2013
Materias:	Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/266071da169d43a6a45bc95e232f59bc
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:266071da169d43a6a45bc95e232f59bc2021-11-15T15:40:06ZFungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features10.1128/mBio.00100-132150-7511https://doaj.org/article/266071da169d43a6a45bc95e232f59bc2013-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.00100-13https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT Virulence has been proposed to be an emergent property, which by definition implies that it is not reducible to its components, but this application of a philosophical concept to the host-microbe interaction has not been experimentally tested. The goals of our study were to analyze the correlation of the phenotype with the ability to cause disease and to determine the dynamics of an experimental cryptococcal infection in Galleria mellonella and Acanthamoeba castellanii. By studying the outcome of infection as host death, we showed that the dynamics of virulence in the G. mellonella/Cryptococcus neoformans interaction follow a predictable pattern. We also found that the experimental temperature and not the presence of virulence factors was a critical parameter defining the pathogenic potential of cryptococcal species. Our results established that cryptococcal species not considered pathogenic could be pathogens given suitable conditions. Our results support the idea that virulence is an emergent property that cannot be easily predicted by a reductionist approach and yet it behaves as a deterministic system in a lepidopteran cryptococcal infection. These findings provide a road map for evaluating whether host-microbe interactions in other systems are chaotic, deterministic, or stochastic, including those with public health importance. IMPORTANCE Virulence is a complex phenotype that cannot be easily studied by analyzing its individual components in isolation. By studying the outcome of infection as the death of the host, we found that a given microbial phenotype does not necessarily correlate with its ability to cause disease and that the presence of so-called virulence factors does not predict pathogenicity, consistent with the notion that virulence is an emergent property. This paper reports that the dynamics of virulence in Galleria mellonella larvae infected with the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans follows a predictable pattern. Establishing that virulence is an emergent property is important because it implies that it is not reducible to its components, and consequently, this phenomenon needs to be studied by a holistic approach.Monica A. Garcia-SolacheDavid Izquierdo-GarciaCameron SmithAviv BergmanArturo CasadevallAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 4, Iss 3 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	Microbiology QR1-502 Monica A. Garcia-Solache David Izquierdo-Garcia Cameron Smith Aviv Bergman Arturo Casadevall Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
description	ABSTRACT Virulence has been proposed to be an emergent property, which by definition implies that it is not reducible to its components, but this application of a philosophical concept to the host-microbe interaction has not been experimentally tested. The goals of our study were to analyze the correlation of the phenotype with the ability to cause disease and to determine the dynamics of an experimental cryptococcal infection in Galleria mellonella and Acanthamoeba castellanii. By studying the outcome of infection as host death, we showed that the dynamics of virulence in the G. mellonella/Cryptococcus neoformans interaction follow a predictable pattern. We also found that the experimental temperature and not the presence of virulence factors was a critical parameter defining the pathogenic potential of cryptococcal species. Our results established that cryptococcal species not considered pathogenic could be pathogens given suitable conditions. Our results support the idea that virulence is an emergent property that cannot be easily predicted by a reductionist approach and yet it behaves as a deterministic system in a lepidopteran cryptococcal infection. These findings provide a road map for evaluating whether host-microbe interactions in other systems are chaotic, deterministic, or stochastic, including those with public health importance. IMPORTANCE Virulence is a complex phenotype that cannot be easily studied by analyzing its individual components in isolation. By studying the outcome of infection as the death of the host, we found that a given microbial phenotype does not necessarily correlate with its ability to cause disease and that the presence of so-called virulence factors does not predict pathogenicity, consistent with the notion that virulence is an emergent property. This paper reports that the dynamics of virulence in Galleria mellonella larvae infected with the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans follows a predictable pattern. Establishing that virulence is an emergent property is important because it implies that it is not reducible to its components, and consequently, this phenomenon needs to be studied by a holistic approach.
format	article
author	Monica A. Garcia-Solache David Izquierdo-Garcia Cameron Smith Aviv Bergman Arturo Casadevall
author_facet	Monica A. Garcia-Solache David Izquierdo-Garcia Cameron Smith Aviv Bergman Arturo Casadevall
author_sort	Monica A. Garcia-Solache
title	Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
title_short	Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
title_full	Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
title_fullStr	Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
title_full_unstemmed	Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features
title_sort	fungal virulence in a lepidopteran model is an emergent property with deterministic features
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/266071da169d43a6a45bc95e232f59bc
work_keys_str_mv	AT monicaagarciasolache fungalvirulenceinalepidopteranmodelisanemergentpropertywithdeterministicfeatures AT davidizquierdogarcia fungalvirulenceinalepidopteranmodelisanemergentpropertywithdeterministicfeatures AT cameronsmith fungalvirulenceinalepidopteranmodelisanemergentpropertywithdeterministicfeatures AT avivbergman fungalvirulenceinalepidopteranmodelisanemergentpropertywithdeterministicfeatures AT arturocasadevall fungalvirulenceinalepidopteranmodelisanemergentpropertywithdeterministicfeatures
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Fungal Virulence in a Lepidopteran Model Is an Emergent Property with Deterministic Features

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