Rupert J Quinnell

University of Leeds · Faculty of Biological Sciences

Nematodes can grow within the inflorescences of many fig trees (Ficus spp., Moraceae); however, the feeding behaviour of most nematodes is not known. Fig pollinating wasps (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) transfer nematodes into young figs upon the wasps’ entry into the figs to deposit their eggs. Most Asian fig trees, however, are functionally dioecious,...

Overabundant, free-roaming dog populations are associated with risks to public health, livestock losses, wildlife conservation, and dog health and welfare. Dog population management is conducted to mitigate these issues. Assessing dog population management strategies is important to determine their effectiveness, efficiency, and long-term impact. I...

Ficus species are characterized by their unusual enclosed inflorescences (figs) and their relationship with obligate pollinator fig wasps (Agaonidae). Fig trees have a variety of growth forms, but true epiphytes are rare, and one example is Ficus deltoidea of Southeast Asia. Presumably as an adaptation to epiphytism, inflorescence design in this sp...

Growing interest in the use of microalgae as a sustainable feedstock to support a green, circular, bio-economy has led to intensive research and development initiatives aimed at increasing algal biomass production covering a wide range of scales. At the heart of this lies a common need for rapid and accurate methods to measure algal biomass concent...

The worldwide population of domestic dogs is estimated at approximately 700 million, with around 75% classified as “free-roaming”. Where free-roaming dogs exist in high densities, there are significant implications for public health, animal welfare, and wildlife. Approaches to manage dog populations include culling, fertility control, and shelterin...

Many species of fig trees (Ficus spp., Moraceae) have nematodes that develop inside their inflorescences (figs). Nematodes are carried into young figs by females of the trees’ host-specific pollinating fig wasps (Agaonidae) that enter the figs to lay their eggs. The majority of Asian fig trees are functionally dioecious. Pollinators that enter figs...

Poster for UFAW conference 2019 "Advancing animal welfare science: How do we get there? - Who is it good for?"

The collapse of mutualisms owing to anthropogenic changes is contributing to losses of biodiversity. Top predators can regulate biotic interactions between species at lower trophic levels and may contribute to the stability of such mutualisms, but they are particularly likely to be lost after disturbance of communities. We focused on the mutualism...

Background: Antibody responses to sand fly saliva have been suggested to be a useful marker of exposure to sand fly bites and Leishmania infection and a potential tool to monitor the effectiveness of entomological interventions. Exposure to sand fly bites before infection has also been suggested to modulate the severity of the infection. Here, we...

The leishmaniases comprise a complex of diseases characterized by clinical outcomes that range from self-limiting to chronic, and disfiguring and stigmatizing to life threatening. Diagnostic methods, treatments, and vector and reservoir control options exist, but deciding the most effective interventions requires a quantitative understanding of the...

The leishmaniases comprise a complex of diseases characterized by clinical outcomes that range from self-limiting to chronic, and disfiguring and stigmatizing to life threatening. Diagnostic methods, treatments, and vector and reservoir control options exist, but deciding the most effective interventions requires a quantitative understanding of the...

The leishmaniases comprise a complex of diseases characterised by clinical outcomes that range from self-limiting to chronic, dis guring and stigmatising, to life-threatening. Diagnostic methods, treatments, and vector and reservoir control options exist, but deciding the most effective interventions requires a quantitative understanding of the pop...

Frequency distributions of Ficus microcarpa fig wasp species richness per fig at six sites in SW China, ordered from north to south. Table S1. The first and second principal components of climate factors using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Table S2. The most abundant fig wasp species at each study site. Table S3. Linear and generalized linear...

Many plants are grown outside their natural ranges. Plantings adjacent to native ranges provide an opportunity to monitor community assembly among associated insects and their parasitoids in novel environments, to determine whether gradients in species richness emerge and to examine their consequences for host plant reproductive success. We recorde...

1. Facilitation is recorded from diverse plant–insect interactions, including pollination and herbivory.2. The significance of facilitation resulting from the behavior of males of multiple fig wasp species inside figs was investigated. Female fig wasps emerge from natal figs via exit holes dug by males, especially male pollinators. When no males ar...

Ambient temperatures influence many aspects of insect behavior and reproduction, and limit their distribution and abundance. Small, delicate insects such as the fig wasps (Agaonidae) that pollinate fig trees rapidly succumb to heat stress when outside figs. We compared survivorship and reproductive success of the fig wasp Kradibia tentacularis poll...

The human genome encodes a gene for an enzymatically active chitinase (CHIT1) located in a single copy on Chromosome 1, which is highly expressed by activated macrophages and in other cells of the innate immune response. Several dysfunctional mutations are known in CHIT1, including a 24-bp duplication in Exon 10 causing catalytic deficiency. This d...

Ficus and their species–specific pollinator fig wasps represent an obligate plant–insect mutualism, but figs also support a community of non-pollinating fig wasps (NPFWs) that consist of phytophages and parasitoids or inquilines. We studied interactions between Kradibia tentacularis, the pollinator of a dioecious fig tree species Ficus montana, and...

The relationships between heterogeneities in host infection and infectiousness (transmission to arthropod vectors) can provide important insights for disease management. Here, we quantify heterogeneities in Leishmania infantum parasite numbers in reservoir and non-reservoir host populations, and relate this to their infectiousness during natural in...

The interaction between figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinator fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) is an obligate mutualism, but females of dioecious fig trees exploit fig wasps without pro-viding rewards. Figs are closed inflorescences that typically trap pollinator females after entry, but some fig wasp species can re-emerge (although wi...

The host-specific relationship between fig trees (Ficus) and their pollinator wasps (Agaonidae) is a classic case of obligate mutualism. Pollinators reproduce within highly specialised inflorescences (figs) of fig trees that depend on the pollinator offspring for the dispersal of their pollen. About half of all fig trees are functionally dioecious,...

There is a need for sensitive and specific rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for canine visceral leishmaniasis. The aims of this study were to evaluate the diagnostic performance of immunochromatographic dipstick RDTs using rK39 antigen for canine visceral leishmaniasis by (i) investigating the sensitivity of RDTs to detect infection, disease and infect...

STARD checklist. (DOC)

PRISMA checklist. (DOC)

Inclusive of 20 chapters subdivided into 4 parts, this book's second edition covers latest updates in the current understanding of the molecular biology, biochemistry and immunology of parasitic nematodes of humans, domestic animals and plants. Specific topics discussed in each chapter include horizontal gene transfer, immune expulsion mechanisms,...

Objective: To evaluate the environmental and ecological factors associated with Leishmania transmission and vector abundance in Chaparral, Tolima-Colombia. Methods: First, we compared the ecological characteristics, abundance of phlebotomies and potential reservoir hosts in the peridomestic environment (100 m radius) of randomly selected houses,...

Background: The current disease model for leishmaniasis suggests that only a proportion of infected individuals develop clinical disease, while others are asymptomatically infected due to immune control of infection. The factors that determine whether individuals progress to clinical disease following Leishmania infection are unclear, although pre...

Distribution of EMP1 across SNP sets of candidate regions. Sets comprise SNPs in the following regions: 6 (CFA 4:61.2–63.2 Mb), 7 (CFA 4: 70.5–74.5 Mb), 8 (CFA 4: 74.8–76.9 Mb), 19 (CFA 9: 40.0–46.5 Mb) and 22 (CFA 10: 29.6–31.5 Mb). (TIFF)

Genome-wide plot of the absolute mean SNP effects estimated with BayesB for Model 1 (A), Model 2 (B) and Model 3 (C). The peak on CFA 4: 61–77 Mb (red segment) consistent across Models 1–3 coincided with both the strongest association in GWAS analysis and the region in which SNP sets covering candidate genes were significant (EMP1<0.01). (TIFF)

Genetic stratification. (A) relative genetic variance explained by the 219 MDS dimensions extracted; (B) MDS plot for the first two MDS dimensions (C1 and C2) with healthy infected and affected samples coloured differently. The percentage of relative genetic variance explained by each dimension is indicated as well as the genomic inflation factor (...

Strongest associations from each region identified in the GWAS analysis. BICF2P1345879 was not used in models 2 and 3 because, for logistic regression, SNPs were pruned based on LD (see Materials and Methods).The closest marker, <6 Kb upstream, was BICF2P813758 at 20:30,126,633 bp (Model 2: Praw = 4.4×10−4, Pgenome>0.50, OR = 0.33; Model 3: Praw =...

Fitted values, fraction of correct predictions, sensitivity and specificity calculation. (DOC)

Single-marker genome-wide association plot for Model 1 after 10,000 permutations with the strongest associations indicated. (TIFF)

Genomic inflation (λ) was not affected by fitting additional MDS dimensions as covariates of the model. (DOC)

Sensitivity of heritability ( h2 ) estimation using GCTA to prevalence of the phenotype is shown for Model 3. (DOC)

Candidate genes analysis: (A) candidate genes and loci described in H. sapiens and M. musculus and retrieved genomic positions in C. familiaris ; (B) sets of non-overlapping candidate regions plus their ±1 Mb-flanking regions; (C) results from the set-based association study. (XLS)

Females of the pollinator fig wasp Elisabethiella baijnathi Wiebes carry mites (Tarsonemella sp. nr. africanus) and nematodes (Parasitodiplogaster sp.) between figs of Ficus burtt-davyi in Grahamstown, South Africa. The mites are phoretic on the outside of the wasps and phytophagous, feeding on galled flowers. The nematodes are transported inside t...

Funding: The funders of the Symposium and Working Group that resulted in this policy platform were the Brazilian National Research Council (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq), the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia), The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz -...

Peridomestic transmission of American cutaneous leishmaniasis is increasingly reported and dogs may be a reservoir of Leishmania (Viannia) in this setting. We investigated the prevalence of infection in dogs in Chaparral County, Colombia, the focus of an epidemic of human cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis. Two (0.72%...

Predisposition to heavy or light human hookworm infection is consistently reported in treatment-reinfection studies. A significant role for host genetics in determining hookworm infection intensity has also been shown, but the relationship between host genetics and predisposition has not been investigated. A treatment-reinfection study was conducte...

There is a need for standardization and simplification of the existing methods for molecular detection of Leishmania infantum in the canine reservoir host. The commercially available OligoC-TesT kit incorporates standardized PCR reagents with rapid oligochromatographic dipstick detection of PCR products and is highly sensitive for use in humans but...

STROBE checklist. (0.09 MB DOC)

There are remarkably few contemporary, population-based studies of intestinal nematode infection for sub-Saharan Africa. This paper presents a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of hookworm infection intensity in a rural Ugandan community. Demographic, kinship, socioeconomic and environmental data were collected for 1,803 individuals aged six m...

Toxoplasma gondii in sheep is important as a cause of lambing losses and as a food hazard. We aimed to assess the prevalence of infection in lambs via development of a standardised PCR technique applied to neonates together with follow-up serology at age 4 months. We measured the sensitivity of PCR targeting the T. gondii sequences B1, SAG1, 5'SAG2...

Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) caused by Leishmania infantum is an important disease of humans and dogs. Here we review aspects of the transmission and control of ZVL. Whilst there is clear evidence that ZVL is maintained by sandfly transmission, transmission may also occur by non-sandfly routes, such as congenital and sexual transmission. D...

Strong statistical associations between soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomes are frequently observed in co-endemic human populations, although the underlying explanations remain poorly understood. This study investigates the contribution of host genetics and domestic environment to hookworm and Schistosoma mansoni infection intensity and eva...

To develop long-lasting, topical pour-on insecticides for dogs to control zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, two deltamethrin-based formulations (emulsifiable concentrate [EC] and suspension concentrate [SC]) were tested for their efficacy against the phlebotomine sandfly Lutzomyia longipalpis Lutz & Neiva (Diptera: Psychodidae), vector of Leishmania...

Observational evidence suggests that infection with helminths protects against allergic disease and allergen skin sensitization. It is postulated that such effects are mediated by helminth-induced cytokine responses, in particular IL-10. We tested this hypothesis in a rural area of central Vietnam where hookworm infection is endemic. One thousand f...

In murine models of leishmaniasis, IgG subclass expression is a proxy measure for Th1/Th2 cellular immune response bias. However, in dogs, the reservoir of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, no consistent association has been described between IgG subclass ratios and disease resistance. Inconsistent results may reflect lack of specificity of commonly...

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) is associated, in the majority of cases, with mutations in RYR1, the gene encoding the skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor. Our primary aim was to assess whether different RYR1 variants are associated with quantitative differences in MH phenotype. The degree of in vitro pharmacological muscle contracture response and the...

In response to the increasing need for field trials of experimental DNA vaccines against zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in dogs, our aim was to validate the use of ELISA protocols which will be suitable for detection of natural infection in vaccinated dogs. We have previously demonstrated that DNA/modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vaccine expre...

Allergic diseases are rare in areas with high helminth parasite exposure and common where helminth exposure is lacking or significantly reduced, such as urban areas of developing countries and industrialized nations. Studies suggest that helminths induce a systemic immuno-modulatory network, including regulatory T cells and anti-inflammatory IL-10,...

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BACKGROUND Individuals living in areas endemic for helminths are commonly infected with multiple species. Despite increasing emphasis given to the potential health impacts of polyparasitism, few studies have investigated the relative importance of household and environmental factors on the risk of helminth co-infection. Here, we present an investi...

Previous studies have established a genetic component for susceptibility to malaria. Here we use a pedigree based approach, and transmission disequilibrium testing (TDT), to identify immune response genes that influence susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malarial phenotypes (parasite density and frequency of clinical episodes) in a Tanzanian p...

Human schistosomiasis presents the classic, complex disease phenotype, with marked variation in the intensity of infection, the immune response to infection, and the development of schistosome-related pathology. Determining the role of host genetics in schistosomiasis is complicated by the numerous parasite and environmental factors involved in tra...

Hookworms infect approximately 740 million humans worldwide and are an important cause of morbidity. The present study examines the role of additive genetic effects in determining the intensity of hookworm infection in humans, and whether these effects vary according to the sex of the host. Parasitological and epidemiological data for a population...

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Background: Individuals living in areas endemic for helminths are commonly infected with multiple species. Despite increasing emphasis given to the potential health impacts of polyparasitism, few studies have investigated the relative importance of household and environmental factors on the risk of helminth co-infection. Here, we present an invest...

Human chitotriosidase (CHIT1) is a chitinolytic enzyme with suggested anti-fungal properties. Previous studies have suggested that chitotriosidase may also protect individuals against filarial nematode infections and malaria. A mutant allele, which renders chitotriosidase unstable and enzymatically inactive, is found at a frequency of >20% in Cauca...

A popular hypothesis to explain parasite survival in the presence of a pronounced T helper 2 phenotype in helminth-parasitized populations has been Fc epsilonRI blockade by parasite-induced polyclonal IgE. To begin to test the hypothesis that Fc epsilonRI-bearing cells would be refractory to activation in parasitized populations, we investigated ba...

Vietnam is participating in a global de-worming effort that aims to treat 650 million school children regularly by 2010. The treatment used in Vietnam is single dose oral mebendazole (Phardazone) 500 mg. We tested the efficacy of single dose mebendazole 500 mg in the therapy of hookworm infection in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled tria...

This study builds upon the established genetic control of antimalarial immune responses and prior association studies by using a family-based approach, transmission disequilibrium testing, to identify immune response genes that influence antibody responses to Plasmodium falciparum infection in an endemic Tanzanian population. Candidate polymorphism...

Surprisingly few detailed age-stratified data exist on the epidemiology of hookworm and iron status, especially in Latin America. We present data from a cross-sectional survey examining 1332 individuals aged 0-86 years from a community in south-east Brazil for hookworm, anaemia and iron deficiency. Sixty-eight percent of individuals were infected w...

Geohelminth infection and poor hygiene may be protective against allergic sensitization. To determine whether current helminth infection is associated with a reduced prevalence of allergen skin test sensitization in a Southeast Asian population of children with a high prevalence of hookworm infection. A total of 1742 Vietnamese schoolchildren were...

Pentavalent antimony is the agent recommended for treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Its use is problematic, because it is expensive and because of the potential for drug-associated adverse effects during a lengthy and painful treatment course. We tested the efficacy of thermotherapy for the treatment of CL due to Leishmania tropica in a ra...