4.4 Article

Within-host interference competition can prevent invasion of rare parasites

Journal

PARASITOLOGY
Volume 145, Issue 6, Pages 770-774

Publisher

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S003118201700052X

Keywords

Multiplicity of infection (MOI); interference competition; positive frequency dependence; bacteria; phage

Categories

Funding

  1. NERC
  2. BBSRC
  3. AXA Research Fund
  4. Royal Society
  5. Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
  6. Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship
  7. NERC [NE/J021806/1, NE/P001130/1] Funding Source: UKRI
  8. Natural Environment Research Council [NE/P001130/1, NE/J021806/1] Funding Source: researchfish

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Competition between parasite species or genotypes can play an important role in the establishment of parasites in new host populations. Here, we investigate a mechanism by which a rare parasite is unable to establish itself in a host population if a common resident parasite is already present (a 'priority effect'). We develop a simple epidemiological model and show that a rare parasite genotype is unable to invade if coinfecting parasite genotypes inhibit each other's transmission more than expected from simple resource partitioning. This is because a rare parasite is more likely to be in multiply-infected hosts than the common genotype, and hence more likely to pay the cost of reduced transmission. Experiments competing interfering clones of bacteriophage infecting a bacterium support the model prediction that the clones are unable to invade each other from rare. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for host-parasite ecology and (co)evolution.

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