ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2011
Antagonistic coevolution with parasites maintains host genetic diversity: an experimental test.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Large diversity in the O-chain biosynthetic cluster within populations of Pelagibacterales.mBio · 2025Article
- Evolutionary repeatability of emergent properties of ecological communities.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Coinfection patterns of two marine apicomplexans are not associated with genetic diversity of their polychaete host.The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology · 2023Article
- In an arms race between host and parasite, a lungworm's ability to infect a toad is determined by host susceptibility not parasite preference.Biology letters · 2022Article
- Serial passage in an insect host indicates genetic stability of the human probioticEvolution, medicine, and public health · 2022Article
- Population size impacts host-pathogen coevolution.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Infection phenotypes of a coevolving parasite are highly diverse, structured, and specific.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2021Article
- Does genetic diversity protect host populations from parasites? A meta-analysis across natural and agricultural systems.Evolution letters · 2021Article
- Deep Sequencing of MHC-Adapted Viral Lines Reveals Complex Recombinational Exchanges With Endogenous Retroviruses Leading to High-Frequency Variants.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
- Scale-dependent effects of host patch traits on species composition in a stickleback parasite metacommunity.Ecology · 2020Article
- Experimental Parasite Infection Causes Genome-Wide Changes in DNA Methylation.Molecular biology and evolution · 2020Article
- Molecular Targets for Coevolutionary Interactions Between Pacific Oyster Larvae and Their SympatricFrontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Article
- Host heterozygosity and genotype rarity affect viral dynamics in an avian subspecies complex.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Increased prediction accuracy using a genomic feature model including prior information on quantitative trait locus regions in purebred Danish Duroc pigs.BMC genetics · 2016Article
- Expression of parasite genetic variation changes over the course of infection: implications of within-host dynamics for the evolution of virulence.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2015Article
- Fine-scale population epigenetic structure in relation to gastrointestinal parasite load in red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica).Molecular ecology · 2014Article
- Molecular characterization of cryptic and sympatric lymnaeid species from the Galba/Fossaria group in Mendoza Province, Northern Patagonia, Argentina.Parasites & vectors · 2013Article
- Coevolving parasites and population size shape the evolution of mating behaviour.BMC evolutionary biology · 2013Article
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3 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Genetic variation in natural populations is a prime prerequisite allowing populations to respond to selection, but is under constant threat from forces that tend to reduce it, such as genetic drift and many types of selection. Haldane emphasized the potential importance of parasites as a driving force of genetic diversity. His theory has been taken for granted ever since, but despite numerous studies showing correlations between genetic diversity and parasitism, Haldane's hypothesis has rarely been tested experimentally for unambiguous support. We experimentally staged antagonistic coevolution between the host Tribolium castaneum and its natural microsporidian parasite, Nosema whitei, to test for the relative importance of two separate evolutionary forces (drift and parasite-induced selection) on the maintenance of genetic variation. Our results demonstrate that coevolution with parasites indeed counteracts drift as coevolving populations had significantly higher levels of heterozygosity and allelic diversity. Genetic drift remained a strong force, strongly reducing genetic variation and increasing genetic differentiation in small populations. To our surprise, differentiation between the evolving populations was smaller when they coevolved with parasites, suggesting parallel balancing selection. Hence, our results experimentally vindicate Haldane's original hypothesis 60 years after its conception.
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