Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Objective: My lab will develop, test, and apply methods to detect emerging parasites and study the epidemiology of infection from molecular interaction to population dynamics. Rationale: Parasitic worms of dogs and foxes have recently been detected in parts of Atlantic Canada where they have not been found before. The French heartworm Angiostrongylus vasorum and the fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis can cause severe, potentially deadly, disease. In the native range, hosts have co-evolved with these parasites, and have evolved mechanisms to limit disease severity. Thus, naïve hosts may be more susceptible to infection and severe disease. The response of naïve hosts to newly emerging parasites is understudied at all levels, from mechanisms of molecular interaction to the epidemiology of host and parasite populations. The recent introduction of A. vasorum and E. multilocularis to wild canid hosts in Atlantic Canada offers an opportunity to study the spread of emerging parasites and their interaction with naïve host populations. Aim: My research program will reveal the impacts of emerging parasites on naïve host species at the population and molecular level. Approach: We will determine the prevalence, spread, and population origin of emerging parasites in Atlantic Canada. We will use proteomic and gene expression profiling to study the difference in host response to A. vasorum in three species: foxes, coyotes, and dogs. Infected hosts will be sampled from the original parasite range, and from the newly expanded range in Atlantic Canada. Host response will be evaluated by analysing cultured and parasite exposed endothelial cells collected from uninfected, naïve animals. Additionally, individuals from populations which have historically been infected (and thus have had the opportunity to co-evolve with the parasite), will be analysed and compared for protein expression and sequence divergence. Differences between naïve and co-evolved hosts are targets for functional evaluation to study the molecular mechanisms of host-parasite interaction. Importance: The risk emerging parasites pose to naïve hosts and their potential spread to new areas is unknown. My research will track the emergence of new parasites as it is happening, and provide mechanistic insight into how emerging parasites affect naïve host populations. The comparisons of host response between different host species, and between naïve vs. co-evolved populations, will provide new insights into the molecules that mediate interactions and the underlying adaptive and co-evolutionary processes. These comparisons will also assess risk by identifying variation in clinical disease patterns among host species. This research will produce data on host-parasite interaction and parasite emergence that is immediately relevant in Atlantic Canada. Additionally, the new conceptual approaches and mechanistic insights can be translated to other emerging parasites, and other areas of the world.