Adaptive plasticity in the gametocyte conversion rate of malaria parasites.

ABSTRACT: Sexually reproducing parasites, such as malaria parasites, experience a trade-off between the allocation of resources to asexual replication and the production of sexual forms. Allocation by malaria parasites to sexual forms (the conversion rate) is variable but the evolutionary drivers of this plasticity are poorly understood. We use evolutionary theory for life histories to combine a mathematical model and experiments to reveal that parasites adjust conversion rate according to the dynamics of asexual densities in the blood of the host. Our model predicts the direction of change in conversion rates that returns the greatest fitness after perturbation of asexual densities by different doses of antimalarial drugs. The loss of a high proportion of asexuals is predicted to elicit increased c

SUBMITTER: Schneider P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6261640 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature