Low migration decreases interference competition among parasites and increases virulence

Competition among different parasite genotypes within a host is predicted to affect virulence. The direction of this effect, however, depends critically on the mechanisms that parasites use to compete or to cooperate with each other. One mechanism that bacteria use to compete with each other is via the production of bacteria-killing toxins, called bacteriocins. This warfare among parasites within a host is predicted to reduce the rate of host exploitation, resulting in lower virulence. By contrast, if parasites within a host are highly related, there could be a reduction in within-host conflict, increasing virulence. We examined this idea by allowing an insect-parasitic nematode (Steinernema carpocapsae) and its symbiotic bacteria (Xenorhabdus nematophila) to evolve for 20 passages under two different migration treatments (low and high). We found that host mortality rates were higher in the low-migration treatment when compared with the high-migration treatment. In addition, bacteria isolated from the same insect host inhibited each other's growth, but only in the high-migration treatment. These results show that population structure and interactions among parasites within hosts can be critical to understanding virulence.