High genetic diversity of the himalayan marmot relative to plague outbreaks in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China
Ying Ma,
Pengbo Liu,
Ziyan Li,
Yujuan Yue,
Yanmei Zhao,
Jian He,
Jiaxin Zhao,
Xiuping Song,
Jun Wang,
Qiyong Liu,
Liang Lu
Affiliations
Ying Ma
Qinghai Institute for Endemic Disease Prevention and Control
Pengbo Liu
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Ziyan Li
College of Life Sciences, WuHan University
Yujuan Yue
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Yanmei Zhao
Qinghai Institute for Endemic Disease Prevention and Control
Jian He
Qinghai Institute for Endemic Disease Prevention and Control
Jiaxin Zhao
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Xiuping Song
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Jun Wang
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Qiyong Liu
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Liang Lu
National Key Laboratory of Intelligent Tracking and Forecasting for Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention
Abstract Plague, as an ancient zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, has brought great disasters. The natural plague focus of Marmota himalayana in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the largest, which has been constantly active and the leading source of human plague in China for decades. Understanding the population genetics of M. himalayana and relating that information to the biogeographic distribution of Yersinia pestis and plague outbreaks are greatly beneficial for the knowledge of plague spillover and arecrucial for pandemic prevention. In the present research, we assessed the population genetics of M. himalayana. We carried out a comparative study of plague outbreaks and the population genetics of M. himalayana on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We found that M. himalayana populations are divided into two main clusters located in the south and north of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Fourteen DFR genomovars of Y. pestis were found and exhibited a significant region-specific distribution. Additionally, the increased genetic diversity of plague hosts is positively associated with human plague outbreaks. This insight gained can improve our understanding of biodiversity for pathogen spillover and provide municipally directed targets for One Health surveillance development, which will be an informative next step toward increased monitoring of M. himalayana dynamics.
