Premium
Evolution of gene‐for‐gene systems in metapopulations: the effect of spatial scale of host and pathogen dispersal
Author(s) -
Thrall P. H.,
Burdon J. J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.928
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-3059
pISSN - 0032-0862
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3059.2002.00683.x
Subject(s) - biology , metapopulation , biological dispersal , virulence , coevolution , host (biology) , genetics , pathogen , genotype , genetic variation , resistance (ecology) , evolutionary biology , gene , ecology , population , demography , sociology
The concept of gene‐for‐gene coevolution is a major model for research on disease resistance in crop plants. However, few theoretical or empirical studies have examined such systems in natural situations, and as a consequence, there is little knowledge of how spatial effects are likely to influence the evolution of host resistance and pathogen virulence in gene‐for‐gene interactions. In this work, a simulation approach was used to investigate the epidemiological and genetic consequences of varying host and pathogen dispersal in metapopulation situations. The results demonstrate clear impacts of dispersal distance on the total number of host and pathogen genotypes that are maintained, as well as on genetic variation at individual host resistance and pathogen virulence loci. Several other important results also emerged from this study. In contrast to the predictions of many earlier nonspatial models, so‐called ‘super‐races’ of pathogens do not always evolve and dominate, indicating that it is not necessary to assume costs of resistance or virulence to maintain high levels of polymorphism in biologically realistic situations. The rate of evolution of both resistance and virulence depend on the scale of dispersal, with greater mixing (as a function of dispersal scale) resulting in a faster approach to a dynamic endpoint. The model in this paper also predicts that, despite the greater total genotypic diversity of pathogens across the metapopulation, variation in host resistance will generally be greater than variation in pathogen virulence within local populations.