Is there a sicker sex? Dose relationships modify male-female differences in infection prevalence.

ABSTRACT: Throughout the animal kingdom, there are striking differences in the propensity of one sex or the other to become infected. However, precisely when we should expect males or females to be the sicker sex remains unclear. A major barrier to answering this question is that very few studies have considered how the susceptibility of males and females changes across the full range of pathogen doses encountered in nature. Without quantifying this 'dose-susceptibility' relationship, we have likely underestimated the scope for sex differences to arise. Here, we use the Daphnia magnia-Pasteuria ramosa system to reveal that sex differences in susceptibility are entirely dose-dependent, with pathogens having a higher probability of successfully establishing an infection in mature males a

SUBMITTER: Butterworth NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10777155 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature