J. Pilgrim

Features that matter: evolutionary signatures that predict viral transmission routes

This paper identifies viral features and evolutionary signatures predictive of transmission routes and demonstrates high accuracy in predicting these routes for both known and newly emerged viruses.

Monkeypox virus shows potential to infect a diverse range of native animal species across Europe, indicating high risk of becoming endemic in the region

The paper identifies potentially susceptible animal species to monkeypox virus in Europe and highlights high-risk hosts and geographic areas for spillback and endemicity.

Large-scale comparative genomics unravels great genomic diversity across the Rickettsia and Ca. Megaira genera and identifies Torix group as an evolutionarily distinct clade.

This paper presents new genomes of Rickettsia and Ca. Megaira, identifies Torix as a distinct clade, and proposes a new genus name for it.

Identifying candidate Culicoides spp. (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) for the study of interactions with Candidatus Cardinium hertigii (Bacteroidetes).

The paper screens 337 Culicoides individuals for Cardinium infection and identifies candidate species for studying symbiont interactions.

Cardinium symbiosis as a potential confounder of mtDNA based phylogeographic inference in Culicoides imicola (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), a vector of veterinary viruses

This study shows that Cardinium symbiosis can affect mtDNA-based phylogeographic analysis in Culicoides imicola, suggesting the need for additional markers to accurately infer population movement.

The Tissue Tropisms and Transstadial Transmission of a Rickettsia Endosymbiont in the Highland Midge, Culicoides impunctatus (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

This study identifies tissue tropisms and transstadial transmission of Torix Rickettsia in Culicoides impunctatus, suggesting novel germline targeting and potential impacts on vector capacity.