A recent study on fruit flies has shown that some species are sensitive to many viruses. A research which was conducted by the University of Exeter, the study involved releasing 35 species of fruit flies to 11 viruses and discovered several lessons on virus susceptibility. The study established that fruit fly species that were less affected by one virus also had higher resistance to related viruses. However, the most surprising result was the “positive correlation” in the general susceptibility, i.e., the resistance to one virus was often accompanied by the resistance to other, including unrelated, viruses. Dr. Ryan Imrie from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research explained, “Large-scale tests like this help us understand how pathogens adapt to new host species and with this, we can learn lessons for animals and people. This is important for informing us on future pandemics.” Professor Ben Longdon of the University of Exeter commented, “Viral behaviour can be quite predictable with sequence relatedness as a guide but the smallest changes can lead to the biggest differences in their behaviour. This type of study is helpful in informing us on these fundamental processes.” Viral load was defined as the amount of virus recovered from the flies after two days of infection. Dr. Longdon pointed out that some fly species were vulnerable due to evolutionary factors. It is possible that such species have lived in environments that had lower virus prevalence or have immune systems that viruses can easily take over. In this study, the researchers did not observe any ‘trade-offs’ in immunity, where resistance to one virus decreased the resistance to other viruses. This research sheds light on how immune systems function and how they develop, which could help explain the behavior of viruses in new hosts. This study gives insight into how viruses spread and evolve and the lessons are important for surveillance of viral diseases.
Virus Susceptibility in Species
