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Prior pathogen exposure augments inter-individual heterogeneity in antibody levels and reinfection loads in a songbird-pathogen system

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Abstract

Host responses to infection are often heterogeneous, with key consequences for pathogen transmission and evolution. Given the ubiquity of host re-exposure to the same pathogen, understanding how prior exposure alters inter-individual heterogeneity in disease responses is critical. Work in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) found that priming exposures to low or high doses of the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum augmented host heterogeneity in susceptibility. Here we quantified whether priming similarly affects inter-individual heterogeneity in antibody responses, pathogen loads, and disease responses upon reinfection. Primed birds had more heterogeneous antibody responses prior to rechallenge relative to unprimed birds, with individual variation in antibody levels predictive of reinfection susceptibility. During rechallenge, pathogen loads, but not disease severity scores, were more heterogeneous in primed birds. However, when considering only birds successfully infected following re-challenge, priming did not significantly alter either mean pathogen loads or heterogeneity in loads. This suggests that priming effects on loads are largely explained by susceptibility differences. Nonetheless, because protective effects of priming limited sample sizes of successfully reinfected birds, further study is needed of whether priming influences load variability within successfully reinfected birds. Overall, prior exposure to pathogens alters inter-individual heterogeneity in several host traits, with implications for downstream infection dynamics.

Data availability

Data and code underlying this manuscript are found on the Virginia Tech Data Repository at https://doi.org/10.7294/31852381.

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Acknowledgements

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01GM144972 (to DMH, JSA, AEF, SJG, LMC, and KEL). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health (https://www.nigms.nih.gov/). The funders did not play any role in study design, date collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We thank members of the Hawley Laboratory who contributed to field capture of house finches and experimental data collection, including John Brule, Annabel Coyle, Noelle Hodges, Marissa Langager, Ama Owusu-Attakorah, Sara Teemer, Caro Vela, and Chava Weitzman. We also thank Ignacio Moore and Edan Tulman for their input on the experimental design and manuscript as well as Alicia Surratt for input on statistical methods.

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01GM144972 (to DMH, JSA, AEF, SJG, LMC, and KEL).

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Author notes

  1. Jesse N. Garrett-Larsen, Anna A. Pérez-Umphrey contributed equally to this work. Kate E. Langwig and Dana M. Hawley are co-senior authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Jesse N. Garrett-Larsen, Anna A. Pérez-Umphrey, Kate E. Langwig & Dana M. Hawley

  2. Department of Biology, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Arietta E. Fleming-Davies

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    James S. Adelman

  4. Department of Mathematics and Virginia Tech Center for the Mathematics of Biosystems, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Lauren M. Childs

  5. Department of Pathobiology & Veterinary Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Steven J. Geary

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  1. Jesse N. Garrett-Larsen
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  2. Anna A. Pérez-Umphrey
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  3. Arietta E. Fleming-Davies
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  4. James S. Adelman
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JGL and APU wrote the main manuscript text and figures. JGL, APU, AFD, JA, LC, KL, and DH contributed to analyses. AFD, JA, LC, KL, SG, and DH contributed to conceptualization and funding. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Jesse N. Garrett-Larsen.

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Garrett-Larsen, J.N., Pérez-Umphrey, A.A., Fleming-Davies, A.E. et al. Prior pathogen exposure augments inter-individual heterogeneity in antibody levels and reinfection loads in a songbird-pathogen system.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46682-9

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