The age and evolution of an antiviral resistance mutation in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: What selective processes underlie the evolution of parasites and their hosts? Arms-race models propose that new host-resistance mutations or parasite counter-adaptations arise and sweep to fixation. Frequency-dependent models propose that selection favours pathogens adapted to the most common host genotypes, conferring an advantage to rare host genotypes. Distinguishing between these models is empirically difficult. The maintenance of disease-resistance polymorphisms has been studied in detail in plants, but less so in animals, and rarely in natural populations. We have made a detailed study of genetic variation in host resistance in a natural animal population, Drosophila melanogaster, and its natural pathogen, the sigma virus. We confirm previous findings that a single (albeit complex) m

SUBMITTER: Bangham J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1914336 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature