Parasitism to mutualism shift during a viral infection in Drosophila under thermal stress
- 1Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit, 75015 Paris, France
Abstract
Host-parasite interactions exist along a continuum from parasitism to mutualism, yet the environmental drivers governing transitions along this spectrum remain underexplored. Here we show that chronic thermal stress systematically attenuates virulence across multiple natural RNA viruses in Drosophila melanogaster and shifts persistent Nora virus infection into conditional mutualism, enhancing host lifespan, reproductive output, and behavioral performance without compromising viral persistence. Driven by host immunometabolic reprogramming and aging deceleration rather than viral genomic adaptation, this phenotypic switch demonstrates that thermal stress can invert the sign of biotic interactions. Our findings establish that persistent infections can expand host thermal reaction norms in animals, revealing how climate warming can fundamentally alter selection pressures and host-pathogen coevolutionary trajectories.
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BibTeX
@misc{gonzalez2026parasitism,
title = {{Parasitism to mutualism shift during a viral infection in Drosophila under thermal stress}},
author = {R. Gonzalez and M. Castello-Sanjuan and A. Butkovic and H. Blanc and A. Belavilas-Trovas and J. Nigg and M.-C. Saleh},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.31.763142},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.31.763142v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Parasitism to mutualism shift during a viral infection in Drosophila under thermal stress
AU - R. Gonzalez
AU - M. Castello-Sanjuan
AU - A. Butkovic
AU - H. Blanc
AU - A. Belavilas-Trovas
AU - J. Nigg
AU - M.-C. Saleh
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/31
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.31.763142
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.31.763142v1
AB - Host-parasite interactions exist along a continuum from parasitism to mutualism, yet the environmental drivers governing transitions along this spectrum remain underexplored. Here we show that chronic thermal stress systematically attenuates virulence across multiple natural RNA viruses in Drosophila melanogaster and shifts persistent Nora virus infection into conditional mutualism, enhancing host lifespan, reproductive output, and behavioral performance without compromising viral persistence. Driven by host immunometabolic reprogramming and aging deceleration rather than viral genomic adaptation, this phenotypic switch demonstrates that thermal stress can invert the sign of biotic interactions. Our findings establish that persistent infections can expand host thermal reaction norms in animals, revealing how climate warming can fundamentally alter selection pressures and host-pathogen coevolutionary trajectories.
ER -