Red Queen Research Articles

Long term patterns of association between MHC and helminth burdens in the bank vole support Red Queen dynamics.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins crucial for adaptive immunity of vertebrates. Negative frequency‐dependent selection (NFDS), resulting from adaptation of parasites to common MHC types, has been hypothesized to maintain high, functionally relevant polymorphism of MHC, but demonstration of this relationship has remained elusive. In particular, differentiation of NFDS from fluctuating selection, resulting from changes in parasite communities in time and space (FS), has proved difficult in short‐term studies. Here, we used temporal data, accumulated through long‐term monitoring of helminths infecting bank voles (Myodes glareolus), to test specific predictions of NFDS on MHC class II. Data were collected in three, moderately genetically differentiated subpopulations in Poland, which were characterized by some stable spatiotemporal helminth communities but also events indicating introduction of new species and loss of others. We found a complex association between individual MHC diversity and species richness, where intermediate numbers of DRB supertypes correlated with lowest species richness, but the opposite was true for DQB supertypes—arguing against universal selection for immunogenetic optimality. We also showed that particular MHC supertypes explain a portion of the variance in prevalence and abundance of helminths, but this effect was subpopulation‐specific, which is consistent with both NFDS and FS. Finally, in line with NFDS, we found that certain helminths that have recently colonized or spread in a given subpopulation, more frequently or intensely infected voles with MHC supertypes that have been common in the recent past. Overall, our results highlight complex spatial and temporal patterns of MHC‐parasite associations, the latter being consistent with Red Queen coevolutionary dynamics.

Defining pseudoenzymes in glycosylation pathways

Glycosylation pathways regulate diverse cellular processes from protein quality control to host‐pathogen interactions and the enzymes that catalyze glycosidic linkages, glycosyltransferases (GTs), are a large super‐family of proteins that display extensive variation in primary sequence and three‐dimensional structure. A large fraction of GTs also display variations in key active site residues, but the functional and evolutionary implications of these variations are not well understood. In this talk, I will describe our ongoing efforts to map and classify GTs and pseudoGTs across the tree of life. A phylogenetic tree relating diverse GT‐A fold enzymes reveals that pseudoGTs evolved multiple independent times during evolution and variations in the catalytic base (xED‐Asp) correlate with the stereochemistry of glycosidic linkages in the acceptor substrate i.e., inverting vs retaining. Co‐evolutionary analysis reveals that active site variations in GTs are accommodated through compensatory interactions in distal functional sites associated with substrate recognition. Our studies support the “Red Queen” hypothesis in which the selective pressure to catalyze glycosidic linkages between diverse donor and acceptor substrates led to the emergence and expansion of pseudoGTs across the tree of life. Our findings have important implications for understanding other pseudoenzyme families such as pseudokinases.

Genetic architecture facilitates then constrains adaptation in a host–parasite coevolutionary arms race

In coevolutionary arms races, interacting species impose selection on each other, generating reciprocal adaptations and counter adaptations. This process is typically enhanced by genetic recombination and heterozygosity, but these sources of evolutionary novelty may be secondarily lost when uniparental inheritance evolves to ensure the integrity of sex-linked adaptations. We demonstrate that host-specific egg mimicry in the African cuckoo finch Anomalospiza imberbis is maternally inherited, confirming the validity of an almost century-old hypothesis. We further show that maternal inheritance not only underpins the mimicry of different host species but also additional mimetic diversification that approximates the range of polymorphic egg “signatures” that have evolved within host species as an escalated defense against parasitism. Thus, maternal inheritance has enabled the evolution and maintenance of nested levels of mimetic specialization in a single parasitic species. However, maternal inheritance and the lack of sexual recombination likely disadvantage cuckoo finches by stifling further adaptation in the ongoing arms races with their individual hosts, which we show have retained biparental inheritance of egg phenotypes. The inability to generate novel genetic combinations likely prevents cuckoo finches from mimicking certain host phenotypes that are currently favored by selection (e.g., the olive-green colored eggs laid by some tawny-flanked prinia, Prinia subflava, females). This illustrates an important cost of coding coevolved adaptations on the nonrecombining sex chromosome, which may impede further coevolutionary change by effectively reversing the advantages of sexual reproduction in antagonistic coevolution proposed by the Red Queen hypothesis.

Biomonitoring of Pu isotopes in liver of North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) collected off the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant, western North Pacific margin

Concentrations of 239+240Pu and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios were determined in liver samples of North Pacific giant octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) collected off the Rokkasho Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant (RNFRP) to understand the bioaccumulation of Pu in the octopus liver, to provide Pu data before full commercial operation of the reprocessing plant, and to identify the sources of Pu isotopes in the studied liver samples. Mean 239+240Pu concentration was 6.3 ± 3.1 mBq/kg-wet, which was within the previously reported concentration ranges in liver of the Japanese common squid and in hepatopancreas of red queen and snow crabs. The 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios ranged from 0.223 to 0.252 with a mean ratio of 0.234 ± 0.009, which was noticeably greater than the mean global fallout ratio of ~0.18. These ratios reflected a mixture of global fallout Pu from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing and close-in fallout Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG). The relative percentage of the PPG close-in fallout Pu to global fallout was calculated to be 39.6 ± 6.7%. The liver of the NPG octopus is an excellent bioindicator for biomonitoring of Pu pollution. Data on 239+240Pu concentrations and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in liver of the NPG octopus collected in the vicinity of the RNFRP will provide powerful keys for continuous biomonitoring of Pu pollution and for distinguishing the potential sources of Pu after the plant begins full commercial operation.

Competitive Experience, Multi-market Contact, and Firm Performance: Based on the Perspective of Red Queen Competition

The Red Queen effect means that companies easily fall into an intense self-expansion direct competition, and they fail faster if they try to work harder or improve the main success factors of traditional industries. The study examines the relationship between the actions of the focal enterprise, the actions of rivals and the performance of the focal enterprise in various industries. We believe that the Red Queen effect, which is considered to be the positive and negative effects of the enterprise's performance, is stronger in highly concentrated industries and less in high-growth industries. Specifically, we have shown that firm actions compared to competitor actions and the speed of competitor actions have two opposing effects on the performance of the central enterprise. We also demonstrate that the impact of enterprise actions on performance is complex and depends on industry and competitive market positions.

Host–parasite coevolution: Backseat drivers take the wheel at the Red Queen’s race

Defensive microbial symbionts are common in plants and animals, protecting their hosts against parasiticenemies. Rafaluk-Mohr etal. show that defensive microbes alter the trajectory of host-parasite coevolution, favouring the evolution of fundamentally different life-history responses to infection.

Translation of Positive Emotion Words in Red Queen

This study aims to identify and analyze the types of positive emotion and the technique of translation applied to translate the positive emotion words found in the novel Red queen. The method of collecting data in this study was conducted through a documentary method. Furthermore, descriptive qualitative method was applied for analyzing the data. The theories of category of emotions concept and technique of translation were used to analyze the data. There are three types of positive emotion found in the novel. Moreover, only four out of eighteen techniques of translation applied in the novel including literal, amplification, transposition, and particularization.

Microbiome Transmission During Sexual Intercourse Appears Stochastic and Supports the Red Queen Hypothesis.

Microbes inhabit virtually everywhere on and/or in our bodies, including the seminal and vaginal fluids. They have significant importance in maintaining reproductive health and protecting hosts from diseases. The exchange of microbes during sexual intercourse is one of the most direct and significant microbial transmissions between men and women. Nevertheless, the mechanism of this microbial transmission was little known. Is the transmission mode stochastic, passive diffusion similar to the random walk of particles, or driven by some deterministic forces? What is the microbial transmission probability? What are the possible evolutionary implications, particularly from the perspective of sexual reproduction (selection)? We tackle these intriguing questions by leveraging the power of Hubbell’s unified neutral theory of biodiversity, specifically implemented as the HDP-MSN (hierarchical Dirichlet process approximated multi-site neutral model), which allows for constructing truly multi-site metacommunity models, simultaneously including vaginal and semen microbiomes. By reanalyzing the microbiome datasets of seminal and vaginal fluids from 23 couples both before and after sexual intercourses originally reported by Mändar and colleagues, we found that the microbial transmission between seminal and vaginal fluids is a stochastic, passive diffusion similar to the random walk of particles in physics, rather than driven by deterministic forces. The transmission probability through sexual intercourse seems to be approximately 0.05. Inspired by the results from the HDP-MSN model, we further conjecture that the stochastic drifts of microbiome transmissions during sexual intercourses can be responsible for the homogeneity between semen and vaginal microbiomes first identified in a previous study, which should be helpful for sexual reproduction by facilitating the sperm movement/survival and/or egg fertilization. This inference seems to be consistent with the classic Red Queen hypothesis, which, when extended to the co-evolutionary interactions between humans and their symbiotic microbiomes, would predict that the reproductive system microbiomes should support sexual reproduction.

Regional landscape change triggered by Andean uplift: The extinction of Sparassodonta (Mammalia, Metatheria) in South America

Sparassodonta, a Metatherian monophyletic group, was the main mammalian carnivore predator clade in South America from the Paleogene to the Early Pliocene (c. 66–3.5 Ma). However, there is still no consensus on the causes of their demise. Here, we use the fossil record and Bayesian diversification models to infer the origination and extinction rates for Sparassodonta. Then, we evaluate if their demise can be attributed to global temperature changes, Andean uplift, biotic interactions with their competitor and prey clades, and body mass evolution. That is biotic aspects in the context of the Red Queen model, abiotic aspects in the context of the Court Jester model, and an intrinsic lineage attribute. Our results show that this lineage is characterized by a positive near-zero net diversification rate indicating that the clade maintained a relatively low but stable diversity until the Middle Miocene when an increase in extinction rate drove them to decline and eventual extinction. Moreover, our results support the idea that a drastic regional landscape change triggered by the Andean uplift process affected their diversification dynamics, eventually driving them to extinction. These environmental changes could explicitly affect Sparassodonta lineages due to their ever-present vulnerability to extinction by near-zero net diversification rate and their highly specialized ecology that could have constrained adaptation to new South American landscapes. • We evaluate biotic and abiotic hypotheses to understand the causes of the Sparassodonta extinction. • We estimate the Sparassodonta macroevolutionary trajectories and evaluate their relationship with biotic and abiotic factors. • We find that Sparassodonts did not succumb to biotic interactions (competition and predation) or body size evolution. • The Sparassodonta decline resulted from the regional landscape changes during the Miocene associated with Andean uplift.

Competition, Gender Equality, and Doping in Sports in the Red Queen Effect Perspective

The nature of sports is characterized by a strong competitive component that generates inequalities among athletes at different levels, specifically in relation to gender, technology, and doping. These inequalities can be represented according to the Red Queen effect perspective, which has been previously hypothesized in other competitive environments (evolutionary biology and economics, for instance). The Red Queen effect considers each competitive environment to require a constant effort to maintain a position of competitive advantage in order reach the best result possible. Therefore, the aim of the current paper is to provide an innovative perspective for the understanding of competition in sports, identifying factors (i.e., physical appearance for gender equality, socioeconomic status of a sport team for technology, and antidoping rules for doping) influencing athletes’ possibilities to win a competition. Concerning gender differences, the disparity between genders reflects a lower coverage in sports news, and media are more likely to focus on female athletes’ physical appearance than their performance in sports. Therefore, women struggle more with increasing their visibility and in affirming their status as an athlete. On the other hand, the introduction of science and technological innovations in sports has generated economic interests in sport competitions, which reached superior performance levels compared to the past. Teams that cannot afford financial burdens of technological innovation risk being left out from sport competitions. Finally, doping creates a Red Queen environment since antidoping rules catch a small portion of athletes using performance enhancement drugs.

Red Queen and Red King Effects in cultural agent-based modeling: Hawk Dove Binary and Systemic Discrimination

ABSTRACT What endogenous factors contribute to minority (Red Queen) or majority (Red King) domination under conditions of coercive bargaining? We build on previous work demonstrating minority disadvantage in non-coercive bargaining games to show that under neutral initial conditions, majorities are advantaged in high conflict situations, and minorities are advantaged in low conflict games. These effects are a function of the relationship between (1) relative proportions of the majority and minority groups and (2) costs of conflict. Although both Red King and Red Queen effects can occur, we further show that agents’ increased initial propensity toward conflict advantages majorities.

Corona XLVIII – Red Queens and mutant genes

Corona XLVIII – Red Queens and mutant genes

Sourcing strategies to keep up with competition: the case of SAP

This paper applies the Red Queen theory to explain how organizations utilize various sourcing arrangements in order to compete in an evolutionary arms race where only the strongest competitors will survive. The case study incorporates competition, and views sourcing strategies as a means to improve the firm’s viability to survive competition in the marketplace. The study begins by positioning the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies have changed over time in response to the logic of competition. The case study reveals that (a) organizations are adaptive systems and capable of learning to make strategic changes pertaining to sourcing arrangements; (b) organizations select the terms on which they want to compete by developing certain capabilities within the firm; (c) organizations are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes.

The quiet evolutionary response to cellular challenges.

The quiet evolutionary response to cellular challenges.

Revisiting Leigh Van Valen’s “A New Evolutionary Law” (1973)

Leigh Van Valen was an American evolutionary biologist who made major contributions to evolutionary theory. He is particularly remembered for his groundbreaking paper “A New Evolutionary Law” (1973) where he provided evidence from fossil record data that the probability of extinction within any group remains essentially constant through time. In order to explain such an unexpected result, Van Valen formulated a very influential idea that he dubbed the “Red Queen hypothesis.” It states that the constant decay must be a consequence of evolutionary interactions among connected species within ecological networks. In Van Valen’s picture, species do not merely evolve: they also coevolve with other species. As a consequence, when thinking about adaptation to an external environment, the other species must be considered as part (maybe a major part) of such an external world. Van Valen’s law provided the first complex systems theory of coevolutionary dynamics and inspired a whole range of theoretical and experimental developments from very diverse fields, percolating far beyond its original formulation. Red Queen arms races are nowadays considered a widespread feature of complex adaptive systems.

Cognitive dynamics: Red Queen semantics versus the story of O

It appears that indexicals must have fine-grained senses for us to explain things involving human action and emotions, and we typically identify these different senses with different modes of expression. On the other hand, we also express the very same thought in very different ways. The first problem is the problem of cognitive significance. The second problem is what Branquinho (1999) has called the problem of cognitive dynamics. The question is how we can solve both of those problems at the same time. Vojislav Božičković (2021) offers one solution in which the cognitive dynamics runs through the objects of the attitudes. I discuss this solution and offer an alternative in which the theory of cognitive dynamics has no use for the objects of the attitudes to unify expressions of attitudes. When we say or believe "the same thing" using different modes of expressions, it is by virtue of our deploying a dynamic theory of attitude expression. Like Lewis Carrol's Red Queen, we must run to stay in place.

Alice And The Jabberwocky

What does it mean to have freedom? How do you find the essence of a thing? Is it possible to ever free yourself from structure? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Alice has long ago left Wonderland and has resigned her days to staying in from the rain and studying her books. However, each night she has a nightmare of Everything coming to chase her. She falls back through the looking-glass into Wonderland and finds a very different world where things make sense. The Red Queen is angry because the playing cards are on strike and want more freedom. The Red Queen argues the playing cards have freedom, and are equal, because they all equally inferior to her and are free from having to make choices. She asks Alice to find and kill the Jabberwocky to restore nonsense to wonderland. After meeting Foster Wallace, and his mirror twin, she thinks she is ready. Alice fights the Jabberwocky by, literally, drawing her sword, and returns to her home with an understanding that the answer to structure is play.

Should we hail the Red King? Evolutionary consequences of a mutualistic lifestyle in genomes of lichenized ascomycetes.

The Red Queen dynamic is often brought into play for antagonistic relationships. However, the coevolutionary effects of mutualistic interactions, which predict slower evolution for interacting organisms (Red King), have been investigated to a lesser extent. Lichens are a stable, mutualistic relationship of fungi and cyanobacteria and/or algae, which originated several times independently during the evolution of fungi. Therefore, they represent a suitable system to investigate the coevolutionary effect of mutualism on the fungal genome. We measured substitution rates and selective pressure of about 2000 protein‐coding genes (plus the rDNA region) in two different classes of Ascomycota, each consisting of closely related lineages of lichenized and non‐lichenized fungi. Our results show that independent lichenized clades are characterized by significantly slower rates for both synonymous and non‐synonymous substitutions. We hypothesize that this evolutionary pattern is connected to the lichen life cycle (longer generation time of lichenized fungi) rather than a result of different selection strengths, which is described as the main driver for the Red Kind dynamic. This first empirical evidence of slower evolution in lichens provides an important insight on how biotic cooperative interactions are able to shape the evolution of symbiotic organisms.

Zastosowanie indeksów demokracji i wolności w ocenie miejsca państwa w „wąskim korytarzu” Acemoglu i Robinsona. Studium przypadku Polski

The aim of the article is to introduce Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s theory of the Narrow Corridor – the space in which countries with governments that guarantee security and civil liberties and a society that can control too much government power are located. The paper also refers to the other theoretical concepts used by the aforementioned authors: the despotic, paper and shackled Leviathans and the Red Queen effect. In this paper, I examine whether the eight selected indices of democracy and freedom capture the measures needed to assess the quality of governance, the state of institutions and social capital in each country. As Acemoglu and Robinson did not define specific criteria for when a state enters and when it falls out of the Narrow Corridor, the indices of democracy and freedom were used to verify this process and assess its pillars,. This can be done by observing trends in the rankings produced by the indicated institutions. The article will also examine how Poland’s position in the rankings of democracy and freedom has changed in order to assess whether its functioning in the Narrow Corridor has been threatened.

Evolution of cooperation in costly institutions exhibits Red Queen and Black Queen dynamics in heterogeneous public goods

Public goods are often subject to heterogeneous costs, such as the necessary costs to maintain the public goods infrastructure. However, the extent to which heterogeneity in participation cost can affect groups’ ability to provide public goods is unclear. Here, by introducing a mathematical model, I show that when individuals face a costly institution and a free institution to perform a collective action task, the existence of a participation cost promotes cooperation in the costly institution. Despite paying for a participation cost, costly cooperators, who join the costly institution and cooperate, can outperform defectors who predominantly join a free institution. This promotes cooperation in the costly institution and can facilitate the evolution of cooperation in the free institution. For small profitability of the collective action, cooperation in a costly institution but not the free institution evolves. However, individuals are doomed to a winnerless red queen dynamics in which cooperators are unable to suppress defection. For large profitabilities, cooperation in both the costly and the free institution evolves. In this regime, cooperators with different game preferences complement each other to efficiently suppress defection in a black queen dynamic.