10.5061/DRYAD.N1KS4
Clerc, Melanie
University of Edinburgh
Ebert, D.
University of Basel
Hall, M. D.
Monash University
Data from: Expression of parasite genetic variation changes over the
course of infection: implications of within-host dynamics for the
evolution of virulence
Dryad
dataset
2015
2015-02-10T15:50:10Z
2015-02-10T15:50:10Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2820
13409 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
How infectious disease agents interact with their host changes during the
course of infection and can alter the expression of disease-related
traits. Yet by measuring parasite life-history traits at one or few
moments during infection, studies have overlooked the impact of variable
parasite growth trajectories on disease evolution. Here we show that
infection-age-specific estimates of host and parasite fitness components
can reveal new insight into the evolution of parasites. We do so by
characterizing the within-host dynamics over an entire infection period
for five genotypes of the castrating bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa
infecting the crustacean Daphnia magna. Our results reveal that genetic
variation for parasite-induced gigantism, host castration and parasite
spore loads increases with the age of infection. Driving these patterns
appears to be variation in how well the parasite maintains control of host
reproduction late in the infection process. We discuss the evolutionary
consequences of this finding with regard to natural selection acting on
different ages of infection and the mechanism underlying the maintenance
of castration efficiency. Our results highlight how elucidating
within-host dynamics can shed light on the selective forces that shape
infection strategies and the evolution of virulence.
clerc_exp_1