Meeting Abstract

126.4  Monday, Jan. 7  Avian Adaptive Immune Responses to Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae: Alphavirus) and its Arthropod Vector, the Swallow Bug (Oeciacus vicarius) BARAK, V*; BROWN, C; FASSBINDER-ORTH, C; Creighton University; University of Tulsa; Creighton University virginiabarak@creighton.edu

Life history decisions such as reproduction, growth, and development result in variability in physiological responses among avian species and likely impact a bird’s immune response to both macro and microparasites. Here we examine the adaptive, humoral immune responses of a native bird and an invasive bird to an arbovirus (Buggy Creek virus; Togaviridae: Alphavirus), and its ectoparasitic arthropod vector (swallow bug; Oeciacus vicarius). Swallow bugs are closely associated with the native, colonially nesting cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced house sparrow (Passer domesticus) that occupies nests in cliff swallow colonies. We measured levels of BCRV-specific and swallow bug-specific IgY levels before nesting (prior to swallow exposure) and after nesting (after swallow bug exposure) in house sparrows and cliff swallows in western Nebraska. Levels of BCRV-specific IgY increased significantly following nesting in the house sparrow, but not in the cliff swallow. Additionally, house sparrows displayed consistently higher levels of swallow-bug specific antibodies both before and after nesting compared to cliff swallows. These results indicate that significant differences in the immune response to this arbovirus and its arthropod vector exist between these two avian species. These immune response differences may be influenced by the life history characteristics of these avian hosts, and may help to explain the differences in disease susceptibility that exist between these two species.