Killing them softly: managing pathogen polymorphism and virulence in spatially variable environments.
Understanding why pathogen populations are genetically variable is vital because genetic variation fuels evolution, which often hampers disease control efforts. Here I argue that classical models of evolution in spatially variable environments - specifically, models of hard and soft selection - provide a useful framework to understand the maintenance of pathogen polymorphism and the evolution of virulence. First, the similarities between models of hard and soft selection and pathogen life cycles are described, highlighting how the type and timing of pathogen control measures impose density regulation that may affect both the level of pathogen polymorphism and virulence. The article concludes with an outline of potential lines of future theoretical and experimental work.
Centre for Immunity, Infection, and Evolution and Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK. pedro.vale@ed.ac.uk
Pedro F
PF
Vale
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004777:Environment; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D010271:Parasites / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D014774:Virulence / Q000502:physiology*
co-infection; epidemics; hard selection; pathogen polymorphism; soft selection; virulence evolution