Contrasting within-and between-host immune selection shapes Neisseria Opa repertoires

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Abstract

Pathogen evolution is influenced strongly by the host immune response. Previous studies of the effects of herd immunity on the population structure of directly transmitted, short-lived pathogens have primarily focused on the impact of competition for hosts. In contrast, for long-lived infections like HIV, theoretical work has focused on the mechanisms promoting antigenic variation within the host. In reality, successful transmission requires that pathogens balance both within-and between-host immune selection. The Opa adhesins in the bacterial Neisseria genus provide a unique system to study the evolution of the same antigens across two major pathogens: while N. meningitidis is an airborne, respiratory pathogen colonising the nasopharynx relatively transiently, N. gonorrhoeae can cause sexually transmitted, long-lived infections. We use a simple mathematical model and genomic data to show that trade-offs between immune selection pressures within-and between-hosts can explain the contrasting Opa repertoires observed in meningococci and gonococci.

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Watkins, E. R., Grad, Y. H., Gupta, S., & Buckee, C. O. (2014). Contrasting within-and between-host immune selection shapes Neisseria Opa repertoires. Scientific Reports, 4. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep06554

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