Host avoidance and resistance vary independently and are specific to parasite genotype.

ABSTRACT: Hosts can reduce the negative fitness effects of parasite infection by avoiding contact with parasites or by resisting infection after contact. Because of their shared outcome, avoidance and resistance have been hypothesized to trade off with one another. Assuming these defences carry fitness costs, hosts are expected to have high levels of one defence or the other, but not both. Alternatively, avoidance and resistance may covary positively, if, for example, they complement one another or are genetically or mechanistically linked. Testing these hypotheses requires measuring avoidance and resistance independently, which is challenging because they are functionally linked. In this study, we separated avoidance and resistance of the host Caenorhabditis elegans against the bacterial parasite S

SUBMITTER: Amoroso CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12484416 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature