Adaptation to enemy shifts: rapid resistance evolution to local Vibrio spp. in invasive Pacific oysters.

ABSTRACT: One hypothesis for the success of invasive species is reduced pathogen burden, resulting from a release from infections or high immunological fitness of invaders. Despite strong selection exerted on the host, the evolutionary response of invaders to newly acquired pathogens has rarely been considered. The two independent and genetically distinct invasions of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas into the North Sea represent an ideal model system to study fast evolutionary responses of invasive populations. By exposing both invasion sources to ubiquitous and phylogenetically diverse pathogens (Vibrio spp.), we demonstrate that within a few generations hosts adapted to newly encountered pathogen communities. However, local adaptation only became apparent in selective environments, i.e. at ele

SUBMITTER: Wendling CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4375854 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature