Understanding and translating evolutionary adaptations in animals exposed to contaminated diets to guide strategies against human foodborne disease: a prioritisation framework
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, The Third Affiliated Hospital (The Affiliated Luohu Hospital) of Shenzhen University, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease Shenzhen University Division, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen University
- 2Institute of Allergy and Immunology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center for Allergen Standardization, Shenzhen University
- 3Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University
- 4Shenzhen Institute for Drug Control (Shenzhen Testing Center of Medical Devices)
- 5Department of Surgical, Oncological and Gastroenterological Sciences (DISCOG), University of Padova
Abstract
Background: Humans face increasing vulnerability to foodborne and infectious diseases despite medical advances, while certain animal lineages cope with pathogen-laden diets and environments under the particular ecological pressures that selected their defences. Animals are not universally resistant, and wildlife and livestock outbreaks of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Vibrio and mycotoxins are documented; but certain lineages have evolved tolerance or rapid-clearance mechanisms with minimal pathology. This disparity arises from evolutionary adaptations in animals, contrasting with human reliance on hygiene and antibiotics, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic spillovers, while modern sanitation has also delivered dramatic reductions in waterborne disease mortality.
Aim of review: This review aims to synthesize evidence on animal disease resistance mechanisms and translate these insights into clinical strategies for improving human health, addressing gaps in comparative biology and combating emerging threats like antimicrobial resistance. We introduce the Biomimetic Immunity Continuum, a translational framework for comparative immunology built on an explicit selection rule that rejects candidate adaptations as well as ranking them; four are rejected here. It maps animal defence pillars (genetic, ecological, behavioural, physiological, microbiome) along a spectrum from prevention to molecular tuning to therapeutic replacement, prioritizing feasibility, reversibility, safety, and scalability. These criteria are applied as three exclusion gates and four ranked criteria, with candidates ordered on the limiting step rather than on a composite numerical score. We predict that, among adaptations acting on conserved or reachable human pathways, translational potential depends more on conservation, accessibility, safety and deliverability than on the size of the phenotype in the source animal. Throughout, we distinguish avoidance (reduction of exposure), resistance (reduction of pathogen or toxin burden), tolerance (reduction of health cost per unit burden) and resilience (the composite property emerging when these operate together), because these axes carry different translational and safety implications.
Key scientific concepts of review: Animals employ multifaceted defences: genetic (e.g., immune gene evolution), ecological (e.g., habitat avoidance), behavioural (e.g., grooming), physiological (e.g., vultures’ hyperacidic stomachs neutralizing anthrax), immunological (e.g., epigenetic reprogramming), and microbial (e.g., microbiome-mediated exclusion). These synergize to prevent infections, as seen in bats tolerating high viral loads with minimal immunopathology. Candidate human applications differ widely in maturity: trained immunity via BCG and defined live biotherapeutic products are already in human use, dietary interventions mimicking animal microbiomes have reached controlled trials, and heat-shock induction has human data but no controlled trial against a foodborne endpoint. We separate mechanistic inspiration from candidate intervention throughout, and the evidence level attached to each proposal says which it is. Bridging evolutionary and clinical science offers candidate approaches to disease prevention. Every proposal is classified by translational maturity on a five-level scale from approved human use to source-species observation alone; this records maturity rather than certainty or demonstrated efficacy. Animal exemplars are included only where they meet stated relevance criteria for foodborne hazards as defined by the World Health Organization, which treats infectious and chemical hazards together.
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BibTeX
@article{abaidullah2026understanding,
title = {{Understanding and translating evolutionary adaptations in animals exposed to contaminated diets to guide strategies against human foodborne disease: a prioritisation framework}},
author = {Muhammad Abaidullah and Yuan Ji and Qinmiao Huang and Marco Scarpa and Jing Li and Xiaojun Xiao and Damo Xu},
journal = {Frontiers in Immunology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2026.1883529},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1883529/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Understanding and translating evolutionary adaptations in animals exposed to contaminated diets to guide strategies against human foodborne disease: a prioritisation framework
AU - Muhammad Abaidullah
AU - Yuan Ji
AU - Qinmiao Huang
AU - Marco Scarpa
AU - Jing Li
AU - Xiaojun Xiao
AU - Damo Xu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - Frontiers in Immunology
DO - 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1883529
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1883529/full
AB - Background: Humans face increasing vulnerability to foodborne and infectious diseases despite medical advances, while certain animal lineages cope with pathogen-laden diets and environments under the particular ecological pressures that selected their defences. Animals are not universally resistant, and wildlife and livestock outbreaks of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Vibrio and mycotoxins are documented; but certain lineages have evolved tolerance or rapid-clearance mechanisms with minimal pathology. This disparity arises from evolutionary adaptations in animals, contrasting with human reliance on hygiene and antibiotics, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic spillovers, while modern sanitation has also delivered dramatic reductions in waterborne disease mortality. Aim of review: This review aims to synthesize evidence on animal disease resistance mechanisms and translate these insights into clinical strategies for improving human health, addressing gaps in comparative biology and combating emerging threats like antimicrobial resistance. We introduce the Biomimetic Immunity Continuum, a translational framework for comparative immunology built on an explicit selection rule that rejects candidate adaptations as well as ranking them; four are rejected here. It maps animal defence pillars (genetic, ecological, behavioural, physiological, microbiome) along a spectrum from prevention to molecular tuning to therapeutic replacement, prioritizing feasibility, reversibility, safety, and scalability. These criteria are applied as three exclusion gates and four ranked criteria, with candidates ordered on the limiting step rather than on a composite numerical score. We predict that, among adaptations acting on conserved or reachable human pathways, translational potential depends more on conservation, accessibility, safety and deliverability than on the size of the phenotype in the source animal. Throughout, we distinguish avoidance (reduction of exposure), resistance (reduction of pathogen or toxin burden), tolerance (reduction of health cost per unit burden) and resilience (the composite property emerging when these operate together), because these axes carry different translational and safety implications. Key scientific concepts of review: Animals employ multifaceted defences: genetic (e.g., immune gene evolution), ecological (e.g., habitat avoidance), behavioural (e.g., grooming), physiological (e.g., vultures’ hyperacidic stomachs neutralizing anthrax), immunological (e.g., epigenetic reprogramming), and microbial (e.g., microbiome-mediated exclusion). These synergize to prevent infections, as seen in bats tolerating high viral loads with minimal immunopathology. Candidate human applications differ widely in maturity: trained immunity via BCG and defined live biotherapeutic products are already in human use, dietary interventions mimicking animal microbiomes have reached controlled trials, and heat-shock induction has human data but no controlled trial against a foodborne endpoint. We separate mechanistic inspiration from candidate intervention throughout, and the evidence level attached to each proposal says which it is. Bridging evolutionary and clinical science offers candidate approaches to disease prevention. Every proposal is classified by translational maturity on a five-level scale from approved human use to source-species observation alone; this records maturity rather than certainty or demonstrated efficacy. Animal exemplars are included only where they meet stated relevance criteria for foodborne hazards as defined by the World Health Organization, which treats infectious and chemical hazards together.
SN - 1664-3224
ER -