Category Research project
  • Mikrobiologie

Landuse, biodiversity and rodent-borne pathogens

Project status
Completed
Project start
Apr 2020
Project end
Oct 2023
Acronym
Biodiversitäts-Exploratorien
Department
Biologische Sicherheit
Website
https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/

Description and Objective

In the project funded by DFG the effect of gradients in land use intensity on the transmission of rodent-borne pathogens with different traits in transmission (direct/ vector) and host specialization (multi-host) will be tested. The study will focus on the small mammal community on grassland and forest, as they are hosts for a diverse range of pathogens and exhibit marked variation in abundance and community structure depending on local environmental conditions. Detailed information about land use intensity will be linked to small mammal and vector abundance, diversity and community composition. Trapped individuals will be screened for different pathogens such as Leptospira and ectoparasites. The results will highlight specific pathogen traits that are favored or disfavored by different forms of land use intensity. The infrastructure of the Biodiversity Exploratories allows for the incorporation of various important environmental factors that might be associated with disease transmission including vegetation cover, food nutrition or soil type. It is our aim to intertwine our methodological approach with multiple other Biodiversity Exploratories projects so that results can be incorporated into a variety of research questions.

Result

BfRshort forGerman Federal Institute for Risk Assessment took on a subtask in the LaBiRo project. For this task, various rodent species were to be tested for leptospiral infection. In the project, 4,122 DNA isolations were performed from the kidneys of the following rodent species: Microtus arvalis, Microtis sp.; Apodemus flavicollis, Apodemus sylvaticus, Microtis fortis, Apodemus agrarius, and other wild rodents. The subsequent qPCR yielded 3,881 negative and 241 positive samples. Of the positive samples, 204 secY PCRs were performed, of which 192 were positive (156 Leptospra kirschneri, 27 Leptospira borgpetersenii). These 192 positive samples were submitted to MLST for further differentiation. The following sequence types were detected: 153 x ST110, 19 x ST197, 1 x ST334, 11 x ST335, and 3 x ST340. The animals were caught between June 2020 and October 2021. Overall, only a low prevalence of Leptopira-positive rodents was identified for the study period, which corresponds to the trend of the early 2020s.
Type of project

Third-party funded project

Research focus

Gesundheit von Mensch, Tier und Umwelt (One Health)

Organisational units and partners

Lead specialist group: Diagnostik, Erregercharakterisierung, Parasiten in Lebensmitteln (45)
Contact persons: Dr. Anne Mayer-Scholl
External partner: Julius Kühn-Institut, Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen

Funding body and grant number

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V.
MA 8856/1-1

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