Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.

The dynamics of in-host infections are central to predicting the progression of natural infections and the effectiveness of drugs or vaccines, however, they are not well understood. Here, we apply food web theory to in-host disease networks of the human body that are structured similarly to food web...

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Autores principales:	Carmen Lía Murall, Kevin S McCann, Chris T Bauch
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/741013af8692459ca30fd5e99234fcbb
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:741013af8692459ca30fd5e99234fcbb
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:741013af8692459ca30fd5e99234fcbb2021-11-18T08:08:53ZFood webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0048812https://doaj.org/article/741013af8692459ca30fd5e99234fcbb2012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23155409/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The dynamics of in-host infections are central to predicting the progression of natural infections and the effectiveness of drugs or vaccines, however, they are not well understood. Here, we apply food web theory to in-host disease networks of the human body that are structured similarly to food web models that treat both predation and competition simultaneously. We show that in-host trade-offs, an under-studied aspect of disease ecology, are fundamental to understanding the outcomes of competing viral strains under differential immune responses. Further, and importantly, our analysis shows that the outcome of competition between virulent and non-virulent strains can be highly contingent on the abiotic conditions prevailing in the human body. These results suggest the alarming idea that even subtle behavioral changes that alter the human body (e.g. weight gain, smoking) may switch the environmental conditions in a manner that suddenly allows a virulent strain to dominate and replace less virulent strains. These ecological results therefore cast new light on the control of disease in the human body, and highlight the importance of longitudinal empirical studies across host variation gradients, as well as, of studies focused on delineating life history trade-offs within hosts.Carmen Lía MurallKevin S McCannChris T BauchPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 11, p e48812 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Carmen Lía Murall Kevin S McCann Chris T Bauch Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
description	The dynamics of in-host infections are central to predicting the progression of natural infections and the effectiveness of drugs or vaccines, however, they are not well understood. Here, we apply food web theory to in-host disease networks of the human body that are structured similarly to food web models that treat both predation and competition simultaneously. We show that in-host trade-offs, an under-studied aspect of disease ecology, are fundamental to understanding the outcomes of competing viral strains under differential immune responses. Further, and importantly, our analysis shows that the outcome of competition between virulent and non-virulent strains can be highly contingent on the abiotic conditions prevailing in the human body. These results suggest the alarming idea that even subtle behavioral changes that alter the human body (e.g. weight gain, smoking) may switch the environmental conditions in a manner that suddenly allows a virulent strain to dominate and replace less virulent strains. These ecological results therefore cast new light on the control of disease in the human body, and highlight the importance of longitudinal empirical studies across host variation gradients, as well as, of studies focused on delineating life history trade-offs within hosts.
format	article
author	Carmen Lía Murall Kevin S McCann Chris T Bauch
author_facet	Carmen Lía Murall Kevin S McCann Chris T Bauch
author_sort	Carmen Lía Murall
title	Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
title_short	Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
title_full	Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
title_fullStr	Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
title_full_unstemmed	Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
title_sort	food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/741013af8692459ca30fd5e99234fcbb
work_keys_str_mv	AT carmenliamurall foodwebsinthehumanbodylinkingecologicaltheorytoviraldynamics AT kevinsmccann foodwebsinthehumanbodylinkingecologicaltheorytoviraldynamics AT christbauch foodwebsinthehumanbodylinkingecologicaltheorytoviraldynamics
_version_	1718422174788747264

Food webs in the human body: linking ecological theory to viral dynamics.

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