"Quantum" Speciation of Plague Microbe Yersinia pestis in a Heteroimmune Environment - Populations of Hibernating Marmot-Tarbagan (Marmota sibirica)
V. V. SUNTSOV
A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, RAS, 119071, Moscow, Leninskii ave., 33
Keywords: Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, Yersinia pestis, Marmota sibirica, квантовое видообразование, оксидантный “взрыв” макрофагов, гетероиммунная среда
Abstract
The survey considered an ecological mechanism that transformed a population of psychrophilic (cold-like) sapro-zoobiontic pseudotuberculosis microbe Yersinia pseudotuberculosis O:1b into a population of obligate “blood” microbe of plague Yersinia pestis in the host-parasite system Marmot - Flea ( Marmota sibirica - Oropsylla silantiewi ). This mechanism corresponds to the evolutionary principle of “quantum” speciation. The most significant population-genetic microbial transformations took place in hibernating populations of the Mongolian marmot. The main factor of rapid speciation was the heterothermal and heteroimmune status of marmots during hibernation. During winter, the body temperature of marmots fluctuates within a short period of time (from 10 minutes to several hours) by S-form in intervals from 5 to 37 ºC. In the temperature range 20-30 ºC, a sharp acceleration of metabolic and immune processes takes place. Fast adaptation to the explosive rise of immune activity of the primary host (the Mongolian Marmot) in its regular winter awakenings was the essence of the process of speciation of Y. pestis.
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