Infection phenotypes of a coevolving parasite are highly diverse, structured, and specific.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how diversity is maintained in natural populations is a major goal of evolutionary biology. In coevolving hosts and parasites, negative frequency-dependent selection is one mechanism predicted to maintain genetic variation. While much is known about host diversity, parasite diversity remains understudied in coevolutionary research. Here, we survey natural diversity in a bacterial parasite by characterizing infection phenotypes for over 50 isolates in relation to 12 genotypes of their host, Daphnia magna. We find striking phenotypic variation among parasite isolates, and we discover the parasite can infect its host through at least five different attachment sites. Variation in attachment success at each site is explained to varying degrees by host and parasite genotypes. A spa

SUBMITTER: Fredericksen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9290032 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature