Infection Dynamics in Coexisting Sexual and Asexual Host Populations: Support for the Red Queen Hypothesis
Infection Dynamics in Coexisting Sexual and Asexual Host Populations: Support for the Red Queen Hypothesis
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DOI：
10.1086/676886
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发表时间：
2014-08-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Lively, Curtis M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Vergara, Daniela;Jokela, Jukka;Lively, Curtis M.
有性生殖的持续性是进化生物学中的一个经典问题。这个问题源于这样一个事实，即在其他条件相同的情况下，由于在有性种群中产生雄性的成本，无性系应该迅速取代共存的有性个体。有性繁殖的一个可能的抵消优势是，平均而言，异交后代比普通克隆更能抵抗共同进化的寄生虫，正如红皇后假说所预测的那样。在这项研究中，我们评估了感染的流行率由绝育吸虫（Microphallus sp.）在淡水螺的自然种群，由有性和无性个体（Potamopyrgus antipodarum）组成。更具体地说，我们比较了感染频率的性和无性个体在5年内在四个地点在一个天然冰川湖（湖亚历山大，南岛，新西兰）。我们发现，在大多数地点和大多数年份，性人口比共存的无性人口感染较少。此外，未受感染的有性生殖雌性的频率周期性地大于未受感染的无性生殖雌性的频率的两倍。这些结果提供了明确的支持波动的寄生虫介导的优势，在自然种群的有性生殖。
The persistence of sexual reproduction is a classic problem in evolutionary biology. The problem stems from the fact that, all else equal, asexual lineages should rapidly replace coexisting sexual individuals due to the cost of producing males in sexual populations. One possible countervailing advantage to sexual reproduction is that, on average, outcrossed offspring are more resistant than common clones to coevolving parasites, as predicted under the Red Queen hypothesis. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of infection by a sterilizing trematode (Microphallus sp.) in a natural population of freshwater snails that was composed of both sexual and asexual individuals (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). More specifically, we compared the frequency of infection in sexual and asexual individuals over a 5-year period at four sites at a natural glacial lake (Lake Alexandrina, South Island, New Zealand). We found that at most sites and over most years, the sexual population was less infected than the coexisting asexual population. Moreover, the frequency of uninfected sexual females was periodically greater than two times the frequency of uninfected asexual females. These results give clear support for a fluctuating parasite-mediated advantage to sexual reproduction in a natural population.