Responses of a bacterial pathogen to phosphorus limitation of its aquatic invertebrate host

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Issue Date
2008-02-01Author
Frost, Paul C.
Ebert, Dieter
Smith, Val H.
Publisher
Ecological Society of America
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Rights
Copyright by the Ecological Society of America
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Host nutrition is thought to affect the establishment, persistence, and severity of pathogenic infections. Nutrient-deficient foods possibly benefit pathogens by constraining host immune function or benefit hosts by limiting parasite growth and reproduction. However, the effects of poor elemental food quality on a host's susceptibility to infection and disease have received little study. Here we show that the bacterial microparasite Pasteuria ramosa is affected by the elemental nutrition of its aquatic invertebrate host, Daphnia magna. We found that high food carbon : phosphorus (C:P) ratios significantly reduced infection rates of Pasteuria in Daphnia and led to lower within-host pathogen multiplication. In addition, greater virulent effects of bacterial infection on host reproduction were found in Daphnia-consuming P-deficient food. Poor Daphnia elemental nutrition thus reduced the growth and reproduction of its bacterial parasite, Pasteuria. The effects of poor host nutrition on the pathogen were further evidenced by Pasteuria's greater inhibition of reproduction in P-limited Daphnia. Our results provide strong evidence that elemental food quality can significantly influence the incidence and intensity of infectious disease in invertebrate hosts.
ISSN
0012-9658Collections
Citation
Paul C. Frost, Dieter Ebert, and Val H. Smith 2008. RESPONSES OF A BACTERIAL PATHOGEN TO PHOSPHORUS LIMITATION OF ITS AQUATIC INVERTEBRATE HOST. Ecology 89:313–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/07-0389.1
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