Abstract
The outcomes of host-parasite interactions depend on the coevolutionary forces acting upon them, but because every host-parasite relation is enmeshed in a web of biotic and abiotic interactions across a heterogeneous landscape, host-parasite coevolution has proven difficult to study. Simple laboratory phage-bacteria microcosms can ameliorate this difficulty by allowing controlled, well-replicated experiments with a limited number of interactors. Genetic, population, and life history data obtained from these studies permit a closer examination of the fundamental correlates of host-parasite coevolution. In this paper, I describe the results of phage-bacteria coevolutionary studies and their implications for the study of host-parasite coevolution. Recent experimental studies have confirmed phage-host coevolutionary dynamics in the laboratory and have shown that coevolution can increase parasite virulence, specialization, adaptation, and diversity. Genetically, coevolution frequently proceeds in a manner best described by the Gene for Gene model, typified by arms race dynamics, but certain contexts can result in Red Queen dynamics according to the Matching Alleles model. Although some features appear to apply only to phage-bacteria systems, other results are broadly generalizable and apply to all instances of antagonistic coevolution. With laboratory host-parasite coevolutionary studies, we can better understand the perplexing array of interactions that characterize organismal diversity in the wild.
Highlights
The story of life is a story of coevolution
Host-parasite coevolution was examined in the context of interactions between bacteria and their bacteriophage parasites. Such studies have many advantages such as ease of control and replication, short generation times and rapid evolution, easy dissection of genetic changes associated with adaptation, and the ability to archive organisms for future study [34, 35]
As Gene for Gene (GFG) coevolution is predicted to result in selection for generalist genotypes in large, panmictic populations, these results matched expectations
Summary
The story of life is a story of coevolution. Reciprocal relationships among replicators, whether competing, consuming, or cooperating, are a fundamental force driving organic diversification. After observing Angraecum sesquipedale Thouars, a large Madagascan orchid with a foot-long nectary spur, he declared “in Madagascar there must be moths with proboscises capable of extension to a length of between ten and eleven inches!” [1,2,3] Darwin made this connection because he realized that the long spur was a product of coevolution, or coadaptation as he called it, between flower and moth. Host-parasite coevolution was examined in the context of interactions between bacteria and their bacteriophage parasites Such studies have many advantages such as ease of control and replication, short generation times and rapid evolution, easy dissection of genetic changes associated with adaptation, and the ability to archive organisms for future study [34, 35].
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