Passerine viromics and genomics – a One Health approach to understanding infectious disease

Passerine birds are often closely associated with humans but very little is known about their viromes despite them hosting viruses that cause disease in humans and domestic animals Furthermore, the extent to which passerines can catch and transmit viruses from other species, including reservoirs of key viral pathogens, such as seabirds, is unknown1. Finally, determining what genomic characteristics enable passerines to combat viral challenges can provide insight into the evolved traits and mechanisms that may help us mitigate such diseases2.

Modern molecular methods, including metagenomic sequencing, now provide the tools to safely and efficiently identify viruses3 within individuals in wild animal populations. Using these methods, recent studies have shown that apparently healthy bird populations can carry an extensive virome1. However, this work is limited and more is required to understand the diversity and cross-species transmission of viruses, especially in passerines, and how that impacts their health.

The birds on Cousin island in the Seychelles provide a unique opportunity to study the composition, and cross-species transmission from seabirds, of viruses in Passerines. Combining individual virome screening with genomics and health/survival data from the long-term Seychelles warbler study also enables investigations into host-pathogen impacts and co-evolution4,5. These will be your aims. You will use a combination of fieldwork and cutting-edge metagenomic sequencing, bioinformatics and analytical tools to address these questions to make an important contribution to this emerging field.

You will be based at UEA (with David S Richardson and Sarah Worsley) but also work at the adjacent Quadram institute (with Evelien Adriaenssens). These are world-leading centres of excellence with a focus that includes evolutionary biology, ecology and conservation, genomics, wildlife disease and host-microbe interactions. You will receive excellent interdisciplinary training (including field and lab work, genomics, bioinformatics and analytical techniques) and career development from the thriving Norwich Biosciences Doctoral training partnership.

References

Williams, R.A.J. et al. (2023) “Emerging and Novel Viruses in Passerine Birds,” Microorganisms. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11092355

Sheppard, E.C. et al….. Richardson, DS. (2022) “Genomic associations with poxvirus across divergent island populations in Berthelot’s pipit,” Molecular Ecology, 31(11), pp. 3154–3173. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/MEC.16461.

Adriaenssens, E.M. et al. (2021) “Tracing the fate of wastewater viruses reveals catchment-scale virome diversity and connectivity,” Water Research, 203, p. 117568. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WATRES.2021.117568.

Davies, C.S. et al…..Richardson, DS. (2021) “Contemporary evolution of the innate immune receptor gene TLR3 in an isolated vertebrate population,” Molecular Ecology, 30(11), pp. 2528–2542. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15914.

Worsley, S.F. et al …..Richardson, DS. (2022) “Assessing the causes and consequences of gut mycobiome variation in a wild vertebrate population.” Available at: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1893438/v1.