eLife Assessment: The white-footed deermouse, an infection tolerant reservoir for several zoonotic agents, tempers interferon responses to endotoxin in comparison to the mouse and rat
Year: 2023
Type: peer-review
Abstract: The white-footed deermouse Peromyscus leucopus, a long-lived rodent, is a key reservoir for agents of several zoonoses, including Lyme disease. While persistently infected, this deermouse is without apparent disability or diminished fitness. For a model for inflammation elicited by various pathogens, the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to compare genome-wide transcription in blood by P. leucopus, Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus and adjusted for white cell concentrations. Deermice were distinguished from the mice and rats by LPS response profiles consistent with non-classical monocytes and alternatively-activated macrophages. LPS-treated P. leucopus, in contrast to mice and rats, also displayed little transcription of interferon-gamma and lower magnitude fold-changes in type 1 interferon-stimulated genes. This was associated with comparatively reduced transcription of endogenous retrovirus sequences and cytoplasmic pattern recognition receptors in the deermice. The results reveal a mechanism for infection tolerance in this species and perhaps other animal reservoirs for agents of human disease.
Author: Arturo Casadevall
Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Funder: National Institutes of Health
OpenAlex ID: W4386167595