Title: Field and laboratory studies of host specificity for a rhabdovirus in Chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest
Speaker: Dr. Daniel Hernandez (Aquatic and Fisheries Scientist, Oceans Initiative - Walton Family Foundation)
Abstract: Landscape features can greatly contribute to the population structure and life history diversification of organisms in both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, where physiological, morphological and behavioral attributes evolve in response to environmental selection pressures. For viruses the “environment” is defined largely by their hosts. For the aquatic rhabdoviral pathogen infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), diverse assemblages of Pacific Salmonid fishes have served as the landscape upon which IHNV has evolved. Results of field and controlled laboratory studies, examining the host specificity of IHNV, showed that the multiple-host Columbia River Basin in the US Pacific Northwest has led to the evolution of both specialist and generalist IHN virus strains. Together, these evolutionary strategies have allowed IHNV to be maintained across this vast river landscape.
Host: Dr. Helen Dooley
