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Genetic variation in parasite avoidance, yet no evidence for constitutive fitness costs.

Authors :
Amoroso CR
Shepard LL
Gibson AK
Source :
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution [Evolution] 2024 May 01; Vol. 78 (5), pp. 1005-1013.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Behavioral avoidance of parasites is a widespread strategy among animal hosts and in human public health. Avoidance has repercussions for both individual and population-level infection risk. Although most cases of parasite avoidance are viewed as adaptive, there is little evidence that the basic assumptions of evolution by natural selection are met. This study addresses this gap by testing whether there is a heritable variation in parasite avoidance behavior. We quantified behavioral avoidance of the bacterial parasite Serratia marcescens for 12 strains of the nematode host Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that these strains varied in their magnitude of avoidance, and we estimated the broad-sense heritability of this behavior to be in the range of 11%-26%. We then asked whether avoidance carries a constitutive fitness cost. We did not find evidence of one. Rather, strains with higher avoidance had higher fitness, measured as population growth rate. Together, these results direct future theoretical and empirical work to identify the forces maintaining genetic variation in parasite avoidance.<br /> (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE). All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our siteā€”for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1558-5646
Volume :
78
Issue :
5
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
38416416
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae030