2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Predicting the distribution of tick-borne diseases based on climate modeling and population genetics
| Project/Area Number |
23KF0128
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
中尾 亮 北海道大学, 獣医学研究院, 准教授 (50633955)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TEO ERNEST 北海道大学, 獣医学研究院, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2023-09-27 – 2026-03-31
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| Keywords | Ticks / Abundance / Geographic distribution / Distribution models / Climate change / Invasive species / Phylogeography |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Ticks are a big concern to the health of humans and to animals because they transmit a great variety of disease-causing pathogens. For my fellowship, I planned to model the potential geographic range of select ticks, while considering genetics. To that end, since the start of my fellowship, I focused on the tick, Dermacentor auratus. D. auratus is a tick that occurs in the greater part of South and Southeast Asia, and many disease-causing bacteria and viruses have been detected in this tick, including Rickettsia, Borrelia, Kyasanaur forest disease virus and African swine fever virus. Using a species distribution model, I projected the potential geographic range of D. auratus, which will help inform the surveillance of D. auratus and its associated pathogens in South and Southeast Asia.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Although I have only completed one of the many projects that I had planned in the first six months of my fellowship, I am continuously collecting and curating data for at least five other projects which I am working on. Once data collection and data curation for each project is complete, analyses of the curated data will likely be quick, and I foresee that my progress will move on as planned. For these five other projects, I estimate data collection and curation to be about 100%, 90%, 90%, 70%, and 30% for the five projects, in chronological order of the targeted deadlines that I have set for manuscript submissions. Also, I have worked out and tested the materials and methods required for my laboratory experiments, and will start on these experiments soon.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I will model the potential geographic range of a few species of ticks of medical and veterinary importance. Noting that some of these species have distinct populations which may transmit different pathogens, I will study, in the laboratory, whether different populations of a single species have different climatic tolerances and climatic profiles. Informed by these data, I will model the potential phylogeographic range of these populations in relation to climate.
I will also study tick-host and tick-pathogen associations and prioritize ticks that are likely to be invasive in Asia Pacific. Simultaneously, I will try to figure out what has allowed certain species of ticks to be invasive and what has prevented other species of ticks to be unable to spread beyond their current geographic range.
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| Causes of Carryover |
次年度使用額が生じた理由：分布モデル構築が既存データで予想以上に進展し、新たなサンプルの収集、遺伝子情報取得のための消耗品が必要性が低くなったため。
使用計画：別のターゲットマダニ種についてのサンプル採集、遺伝子情報取得のために使用する。
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