Host-pathogen coevolution promotes the evolution of general, broad-spectrum resistance and reduces foreign pathogen spillover risk.

ABSTRACT: Genetic variation for disease resistance within host populations can strongly impact the spread of endemic pathogens. In plants, recent work has shown that within-population variation in resistance can also affect the transmission of foreign spillover pathogens if that resistance is general. However, most hosts also possess specific resistance mechanisms that provide strong defenses against coevolved endemic pathogens. Here we use a modeling approach to ask how antagonistic coevolution between hosts and their endemic pathogen at the specific resistance locus can affect the frequency of general resistance, and therefore a host's vulnerability to foreign pathogens. We develop a two-locus model with variable recombination that incorporates both general (resistance to all pathogens) and specif

SUBMITTER: Hulse SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10418218 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature