Journal
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Volume 24, Issue 8, Pages 1777-1782Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02306.x
Keywords
adaptive evolution; experimental evolution; host-parasite coevolution; Red Queen hypothesis; resistance
Categories
Funding
- Genetic Diversity Center of ETH Zurich (GDC)
- CCES
- SNF [31-120451]
- ETH [TH-09 60-1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Host-parasite coevolution can lead to a variety of outcomes, but whereas experimental studies on clonal populations have taken prominence over the last years, experimental studies on obligately out-crossing organisms are virtually absent so far. Therefore, we set up a coevolution experiment using four genetically distinct lines of Tribolium castaneum and its natural obligately killing microsporidian parasite, Nosema whitei. After 13 generations of experimental coevolution, we employed a time-shift experiment infecting hosts from the current generation with parasites from nine different time points in coevolutionary history. Although initially parasite-induced mortality showed synchronized fluctuations across lines, a general decrease over time was observed, potentially reflecting evolution towards optimal levels of virulence or a failure to adapt to coevolving sexual hosts.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available