Bloody-minded parasites and sex: the effects of fluctuating virulence.

ABSTRACT: Asexual lineages can grow at a faster rate than sexual lineages. Why then is sexual reproduction so widespread? Much empirical evidence supports the Red Queen hypothesis. Under this hypothesis, coevolving parasites favour sexual reproduction by adapting to infect common asexual clones and driving them down in frequency. One limitation, however, seems to challenge the generality of the Red Queen: in theoretical models, parasites must be very virulent to maintain sex. Moreover, experiments show virulence to be unstable, readily shifting in response to environmental conditions. Does variation in virulence further limit the ability of coevolving parasites to maintain sex? To address this question, we simulated temporal variation in virulence and evaluated the outcome of competition between sex

SUBMITTER: Gibson AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5882519 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature