title: The effect of pathogens on selection against deleterious mutations in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: In natural populations, fitness is reduced by both deleterious mutations and parasites. Few studies have examined interactions between these two factors, particularly at the level of individual genes. We examined how the presence of a bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, affected the selection against each of eight deleterious mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. We found that mutations tended to become more deleterious in the presence of disease. This increase in the average selection was primarily due to three genes with the remainder showing little evidence of change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3B2.
authors.forename: Jadene A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Yourth
authors.forename: Aneil F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Agrawal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D009154:Mutation; D012641:Selection, Genetic