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NONADAPTIVE EVOLUTION OF DISEASE RESISTANCE IN AN ANNUAL LEGUME
Author(s) -
Parker Matthew A.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1991.tb04387.x
Subject(s) - biology , resistance (ecology) , adaptation (eye) , plant disease resistance , mating system , population , natural selection , phenology , selection (genetic algorithm) , mating , ecology , genetics , gene , demography , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science
Local populations of the plant Amphicarpaea bracteata often contain genetically divergent lineages that differ strongly in disease resistance toward the specialist pathogen Synchytrium decipiens . In one population, lineages with disease resistance were observed to significantly decrease in frequency over a two‐year period, despite the continued presence of pathogens. Extensive self‐pollination in A. bracteata restricts the opportunity for recombination of alleles affecting separate traits, resulting in strong correlations between disease resistance and other ecologically important characters, including plant morphology, phenology, and patterns of reproductive allocation. Natural selection on these correlated characters may thus cause nonadaptive changes in disease resistance. These results imply that A. bracteata 's mating system is a basic constraint interfering with its adaptation to pathogen attack.