Preface. The evolution of parasite genomes and the origins of parasitism.
Preface. The evolution of parasite genomes and the origins of parasitism.
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DOI：
10.1017/s0031182014001516
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发表时间：
2015-02
期刊：
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Jackson AP
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Jackson AP
从人类的角度来看，似乎直觉地认为生命本质上是自由生活的，而寄生虫是专门的衍生物。当然，这是生物教学或研究努力的平衡给人的印象。事实上，可以想象寄生虫比非寄生虫数量更多（多布森等人，2008），虽然这可能很难证明，但它们在整个进化史中显然是丰富和普遍存在的（Conway Morris，1981）。今天，我们认识到寄生虫对自由生活的生物体的生态、行为和进化以及生物多样性和生态系统功能的重要性（Laffeine et al. 2006; Kuris et al. 2008; Dunne et al. 2013）。作为营养动力学和自由生活物种之间竞争的调节者，寄生虫被称为“生态系统工程师”（Hatcher et al. 2012），作为所有生态系统的重要组成部分，寄生虫的进化起源是进化生物学的核心问题，尽管并非总是如此。
From a human perspective it seems intuitive to view life as essentially free-living, and parasites as specialized derivatives. Certainly, this is the impression given by biology teaching or the balance of research effort. In fact, it is just conceivable that parasites are more numerous than non-parasites (Dobson et al. 2008), and while this may be difficult to prove, they are clearly abundant and ubiquitous throughout evolutionary history (Conway Morris, 1981). Today, we appreciate the great importance parasites have for the ecology, behaviour and evolution of free-living organisms, but also for biodiversity and ecosystem function (Lafferty et al. 2006; Kuris et al. 2008; Dunne et al. 2013). As moderators of trophic dynamics and competition between free-living species, parasites have been called ‘ecosystem engineers’(Hatcher et al. 2012) and as vital components of all ecosystems the evolutionary origins of parasites are a core issue in evolutionary biology, although it has not always been so.