Dictyocoela microsporidia diversity and co-diversification with their host, a gammarid species complex (Crustacea, Amphipoda) with an old history of divergence and high endemic diversity.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although the processes of co-evolution between parasites and their hosts are well known, evidence of co-speciation remains scarce. Microsporidian intracellular parasites, due to intimate relationships with their hosts and mixed mode of transmission (horizontal but also vertical, from mother to offspring), may represent an interesting biological model for investigating co-speciation. Amphipod crustaceans, especially gammarids, are regular hosts of microsporidian parasites, in particular the Dictyocoela spp., which have so far been found limited to these amphipods and are known to use a vertical mode of transmission. The amphipod genus Gammarus has a diversification history spanning the last 50-60 Mya and an extensive cryptic diversity in most of the nominal species. Here,

SUBMITTER: Quiles A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7659068 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature