Population structure of two rabies hosts relative to the known distribution of rabies virus variants in Alaska

• Published in: Molecular ecology Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 675 - 688
• Main Authors: Goldsmith, Elizabeth W, Renshaw, Benjamin, Clement, Christopher J, Himschoot, Elizabeth A, Hundertmark, Kris J, Hueffer, Karsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Scientific Publications 01.02.2016; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Alaska; Animal behavior; Animals; Bats; Bayes Theorem; boreal; Cluster Analysis; disease reservoirs; disease transmission; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; Foxes; Foxes - classification; Foxes - genetics; Foxes - virology; gene flow; Genetics, Population; Haplotypes; hosts; Lagopus; Microsatellite Repeats; Mitochondrial DNA; Molecular Sequence Data; pathogens; Phylogeny; Population; population genetics; population structure; principal component analysis; Rabies; Rabies - epidemiology; Rabies - veterinary; Rabies virus; Rabies virus - classification; Rabies virus - isolation & purification; Taiga & tundra; tundra; Vulpes; Vulpes lagopus; Vulpes vulpes; Alaska; gene flow; tundra; Vulpes lagopus; disease transmission; boreal; Vulpes vulpes
• ISSN: 0962-1083; 1365-294X
• DOI: 10.1111/mec.13509

For pathogens that infect multiple species, the distinction between reservoir hosts and spillover hosts is often difficult. In Alaska, three variants of the arctic rabies virus exist with distinct spatial distributions. We tested the hypothesis that rabies virus variant distribution corresponds to the population structure of the primary rabies hosts in Alaska, arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) to possibly distinguish reservoir and spillover hosts. We used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence and nine microsatellites to assess population structure in those two species. mtDNA structure did not correspond to rabies virus variant structure in either species. Microsatellite analyses gave varying results. Bayesian clustering found two groups of arctic foxes in the coastal tundra region, but for red foxes it identified tundra and boreal types. Spatial Bayesian clustering and spatial principal components analysis identified 3 and 4 groups of arctic foxes, respectively, closely matching the distribution of rabies virus variants in the state. Red foxes, conversely, showed eight clusters comprising two regions (boreal and tundra) with much admixture. These results run contrary to previous beliefs that arctic fox show no fine‐scale spatial population structure. While we cannot rule out that the red fox is part of the maintenance host community for rabies in Alaska, the distribution of virus variants appears to be driven primarily by the arctic fox. Therefore, we show that host population genetics can be utilized to distinguish between maintenance and spillover hosts when used in conjunction with other approaches.