Uniform vertical transmission and selection in a host–symbiont system. Non-random symbiont distribution generates apparent differential selection

Abstract

We investigate the survival, prevalence, and distribution of a symbiont in its host population when the forces of vertical transmission ( β) and symbiont-induced selection ( s) are uniform (invariant across host genotypes). We use host–symbiont disequilibria to quantify the role played by non-random associations between host genotypes and the symbiont in altering host genetic structure. Results show a larger part of the parameter space permits symbiont survival under mutualism ( β⩾0.25) than parasitism ( β>0.5). The nonlinear interaction between β and s determines symbiont survival and prevalence at equilibrium; initial symbiont prevalence is a factor only in a small number of parameter combinations. The symbiont's non-random distribution generates apparent differential selection, when selective differences across host genotypes and alleles exist under uniform selection. The direction of change in host allele frequencies is determined exclusively by the signs of s and the allelic disequilibrium. Disequilibria cannot be created or maintained, and heterozygote disequilibrium changes sign in a greater number of runs and at higher magnitudes than homozygote disequilibria. This investigation increases our understanding of the interactions between vertical transmission and selection, and their effect on the coevolutionary dynamics and final states of interacting species under different selection regimes.