Inference of selection based on temporal genetic differentiation in the study of highly polymorphic multigene families.

ABSTRACT: The co-evolutionary arms race between host immune genes and parasite virulence genes is known as Red Queen dynamics. Temporal fluctuations in allele frequencies, or the 'turnover' of alleles at immune genes, are concordant with predictions of the Red Queen hypothesis. Such observations are often taken as evidence of host-parasite co-evolution. Here, we use computer simulations of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to study the turnover rate of alleles (temporal genetic differentiation, G'(ST)). Temporal fluctuations in MHC allele frequencies can be ≥≤order of magnitude larger than changes observed at neutral loci. Although such large fluctuations in the MHC are consistent with Red Queen dynamics, simulations show that other demographic and populatio

SUBMITTER: McMullan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416836 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature