Effects of host heterogeneity on pathogen diversity and evolution

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General Reference

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type

journal

year

2015

source

Ecology Letters

pages

1252-1261

volume

18

issue

11

publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Abstract

Phenotypic variation is common in most pathogens, yet the mechanisms that maintain this diver- sity are still poorly understood. We asked whether continuous host variation in susceptibility helps maintain phenotypic variation, using experiments conducted with a baculovirus that infects gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) larvae. We found that an empirically observed tradeoff between mean transmission rate and variation in transmission, which results from host heterogeneity, promotes long-term coexistence of two pathogen types in simulations of a population model. This tradeoff introduces an alternative strategy for the pathogen: a low-transmission, low-variability type can coexist with the high-transmission type favoured by classical non-heterogeneity models. In addi- tion, this tradeoff can help explain the extensive phenotypic variation we observed in field-col- lected pathogen isolates, in traits affecting virus fitness including transmission and environmental persistence. Similar heterogeneity tradeoffs might be a general mechanism promoting phenotypic variation in any pathogen for which hosts vary continuously in susceptibility.

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2

Identifiers

• doi: 10.1111/ele.12506 (Google search)
• issn: 14610248
• sgr: 84943662364
• isbn: 1461-0248
• pmid: 26365355
• scopus: 2-s2.0-84943662364
• pui: 606016975

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