A Study of Parasite-Host Coevolution

描述（由申请人提供）： 分析和数值技术将被应用到宿主-寄生虫共同进化的研究。特别是，准物种模型的特征可以被操纵，以提供一组非线性方程，可以描述各种各样的相互作用的物种。通过选择模型的参数，这些方程可以描述各种形式的寄生、共生和互惠现象。在这些选择中包括实验数据应该允许合理描述许多重要的寄生虫，如埃博拉病毒和艾滋病毒。数值上，一组模拟将实施研究的健身景观对进化动力学的影响。同样，这些模拟可以用来衡量我们的分析模型中固有的近似的有效性。总之，这些形成了一套互补的方法，可以揭示各种主题，包括人口遗传学，进化，药物设计和疾病的性质。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Analytical and numerical techniques will be applied to the study of host-parasite coevolution. In particular, the quasispecies model of Eigen can be manipulated to provide a non-linear set of equations that can describe a wide variety of interacting species. By choosing the parameters of the model, these equations can describe various forms of parasitism, symbiotic commensalism and mutualism. The inclusion of experimental data in these choices should allow for a reasonable description of numerous important parasites, such as Ebola and HIV. Numerically, a set of simulations will be implemented to study the effects of the fitness landscape on evolutionary dynamics. As well, these simulations can be used to gauge the validity of the approximations inherent in our analytical model. Together, these form a complementary set of methods that can shed light on a variety of topics, including population genetics, evolution, drug design and the nature of diseases.