Biological and biomedical implications of the co-evolution of pathogens and their hosts.
Co-evolution between host and pathogen is, in principle, a powerful determinant of the biology and genetics of infection and disease. Yet co-evolution has proven difficult to demonstrate rigorously in practice, and co-evolutionary thinking is only just beginning to inform medical or veterinary research in any meaningful way, even though it can have a major influence on how genetic variation in biomedically important traits is interpreted. Improving our understanding of the biomedical significance of co-evolution will require changing the way in which we look for it, complementing the phenomenological approach traditionally favored by evolutionary biologists with the exploitation of the extensive data becoming available on the molecular biology and molecular genetics of host-pathogen interactions.
Woolhouse
Mark E J
ME
Centre for Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK. mark.woolhouse@ed.ac.uk
Webster
Joanne P
JP
Domingo
Esteban
E
Charlesworth
Brian
B
Levin
Bruce R
BR
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics*; D015047:Zoonoses