Data and scripts for replicating the results in the article `Garvang et al., 2025. Parasite infection shapes the pathobiome and behavior of marine zooplankton. Limnology and Oceanography Letters`.
We collected Calanus helgolandicus from the Oslofjord, both healthy individuals and infected with a conspicuous "yellow-hyphal" parasite that changes the host behavior. We incubated them for 7 days and measured behavior and survival. At the start and end of the incubation we sampled animals for 16S rRNA microbial community analysis. Infected Calanus had higher mortality, more risky behavior and altered microbiomes compared to the uninfected.
The repository contains a workflow description of how to process and analyze the raw 16S, survival, and behavior data, and all necessary scripts. The raw 16S sequence data is not available in this repository, but has been deposited to the European Nucleotide Archive with project accession PRJEB84185. (2025-01-20)
Abstract from related publication:
When assessing the total impact of disease in a host, it is important to consider not only the disease-carrying agent but also all symbionts, as they affect and are affected by the course of disease. This concept of a pathobiome is increasingly recognized in disease ecology, but is not well-investigated in natural systems. Copepods are key organisms in marine ecosystems and host a variety of symbionts, including bacteria and eukaryotic parasites. We investigated the impact of a taxonomically uncertain yellow-hyphal parasite (YHP) on its copepod host Calanus helgolandicus with an incubation experiment, comparing survival, behavior, and microbiomes of uninfected and infected hosts. Infected hosts had higher mortality, and altered behavior which can increase predation risk. The microbiomes differed between infected and uninfected hosts, and we identified several potential contributing taxa to the Calanus-YHP pathobiome using model-based ordination. (2025-09-16) |
