Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission
Environmental reservoirs are essential in the maintenance and transmission of anthrax but are poorly characterized. The anthrax agent, Bacillus anthracis was long considered an obligate pathogen that is dormant and passively transmitted in the environment. However, a growing number of laboratory stu...
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| Format: | Online |
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Public Library of Science
2014
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4046938/ |
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pubmed-40469382014-06-09 Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission Ganz, Holly H. Turner, Wendy C. Brodie, Eoin L. Kusters, Martina Shi, Ying Sibanda, Heniritha Torok, Tamas Getz, Wayne M. Research Article Environmental reservoirs are essential in the maintenance and transmission of anthrax but are poorly characterized. The anthrax agent, Bacillus anthracis was long considered an obligate pathogen that is dormant and passively transmitted in the environment. However, a growing number of laboratory studies indicate that, like some of its close relatives, B. anthracis has some activity outside of its vertebrate hosts. Here we show in the field that B. anthracis has significant interactions with a grass that could promote anthrax spore transmission to grazing hosts. Using a local, virulent strain of B. anthracis, we performed a field experiment in an enclosure within a grassland savanna. We found that B. anthracis increased the rate of establishment of a native grass (Enneapogon desvauxii) by 50% and that grass seeds exposed to blood reached heights that were 45% taller than controls. Further we detected significant effects of E. desvauxii, B. anthracis, and their interaction on soil bacterial taxa richness and community composition. We did not find any evidence for multiplication or increased longevity of B. anthracis in bulk soil associated with grass compared to controls. Instead interactions between B. anthracis and plants may result in increased host grazing and subsequently increased transmission to hosts. Public Library of Science 2014-06-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4046938/ /pubmed/24901846 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002903 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Ganz, Holly H. Turner, Wendy C. Brodie, Eoin L. Kusters, Martina Shi, Ying Sibanda, Heniritha Torok, Tamas Getz, Wayne M. |
| spellingShingle |
Ganz, Holly H. Turner, Wendy C. Brodie, Eoin L. Kusters, Martina Shi, Ying Sibanda, Heniritha Torok, Tamas Getz, Wayne M. Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| author_facet |
Ganz, Holly H. Turner, Wendy C. Brodie, Eoin L. Kusters, Martina Shi, Ying Sibanda, Heniritha Torok, Tamas Getz, Wayne M. |
| author_sort |
Ganz, Holly H. |
| title |
Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| title_short |
Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| title_full |
Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| title_fullStr |
Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Interactions between Bacillus anthracis and Plants May Promote Anthrax Transmission |
| title_sort |
interactions between bacillus anthracis and plants may promote anthrax transmission |
| description |
Environmental reservoirs are essential in the maintenance and transmission of anthrax but are poorly characterized. The anthrax agent, Bacillus anthracis was long considered an obligate pathogen that is dormant and passively transmitted in the environment. However, a growing number of laboratory studies indicate that, like some of its close relatives, B. anthracis has some activity outside of its vertebrate hosts. Here we show in the field that B. anthracis has significant interactions with a grass that could promote anthrax spore transmission to grazing hosts. Using a local, virulent strain of B. anthracis, we performed a field experiment in an enclosure within a grassland savanna. We found that B. anthracis increased the rate of establishment of a native grass (Enneapogon desvauxii) by 50% and that grass seeds exposed to blood reached heights that were 45% taller than controls. Further we detected significant effects of E. desvauxii, B. anthracis, and their interaction on soil bacterial taxa richness and community composition. We did not find any evidence for multiplication or increased longevity of B. anthracis in bulk soil associated with grass compared to controls. Instead interactions between B. anthracis and plants may result in increased host grazing and subsequently increased transmission to hosts. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4046938/ |
| _version_ |
1612097468900573184 |