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Pathogens as Causes of Genetic Diversity in their Host Populations

  • Conference paper
Population Biology of Infectious Diseases

Part of the book series: Dahlem Workshop Reports ((DAHLEM LIFE,volume 25))

Abstract

Sex is likely to be an adaptation that enables large multicellular long-lived organisms to resist exploitation by specialized smaller shorter-lived organisms — that is, by parasites/pathogens. Antagonistic coadaptation of genotypes between such species tends to entrain limit cycles or else repeating and largely nonprogressive situations of counter-transience of new defense and attack alleles. Models on these lines can account for (a) correlation of stable sexual reproduction with size and longevity and with biotic complexity of habitat, (b) abundance of protein polymorphism, (c) diversity of adaptive linkage values, (d) common linkage disequilibria in multi-locus genotypes, and (e) “good genes” mate choice and the excesses of sexual selection. Through parasites, frequency-dependent selection may account for much more variation than has been credited while immediate heterozygote advantage may account for much less. Through frequency-dependent selection, polymorphism based even on generally concave fitness profiles may be common.

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  1. Museum of Zoology and Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    W. D. Hamilton

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  1. Dept. of Pure and Applied Biology, Imperial College, London University, London, SW7 2BB, England

    R. M. Anderson

  2. Biology Dept., Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    R. M. May

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© 1982 D. Bernhard, Dahlem Konferenzen, Berlin

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Hamilton, W.D. (1982). Pathogens as Causes of Genetic Diversity in their Host Populations. In: Anderson, R.M., May, R.M. (eds) Population Biology of Infectious Diseases. Dahlem Workshop Reports, vol 25. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68635-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68635-1_14

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