Pathogen evolution under host avoidance plasticity

Pathogen evolution under host avoidance plasticity.

Host resistance consists of defences that limit pathogen burden, and can be classified as either adaptations targeting recovery from infection or those focused upon infection avoidance. Conventional theory treats avoidance as a fixed strategy which does not vary from one interaction to the next. However, there is increasing empirical evidence that many avoidance strategies are triggered by exte...

Genomic plasticity and rapid host switching promote the evolution of 1 generalism in the zoonotic pathogen

On the principle of host evolution in host-pathogen interactions.

In this paper, we use a two-host one pathogen immuno-epidemiological model to argue that the principle for host evolution, when the host is subjected to a fatal disease, is minimization of the case fatality proportion [Formula: see text]. This principle is valid whether the disease is chronic or leads to recovery. In the case of continuum of hosts, stratified by their immune response stimulatio...

The evolutionary consequences of plasticity in host-pathogen interactions.

Interactions between individuals such as hosts and pathogens are often characterized by substantial phenotypic plasticity. Pathogens sometimes alter their exploitation strategies in response to defensive strategies adopted by their host and vice versa. Nevertheless, most game-theoretic models developed to explain the evolution of pathogen and host characteristics assume that no such plasticity ...

Evolution of Pathogen Specialisation in a Host Metapopulation: Joint Effects of Host and Pathogen Dispersal

Metapopulation processes are important determinants of epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics in host-pathogen systems, and are therefore central to explaining observed patterns of disease or genetic diversity. In particular, the spatial scale of interactions between pathogens and their hosts is of primary importance because migration rates of one species can affect both spatial and temporal...