Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 3;14(7):e0219000.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219000. eCollection 2019.

Red Queen revisited: Immune gene diversity and parasite load in the asexual Poecilia formosa versus its sexual host species P. mexicana

Fabian Gösser  1 , Manfred Schartl  2   3 , Francisco J García-De León  4 , Ralph Tollrian  1 , Kathrin P Lampert  1
Affiliations

Red Queen revisited: Immune gene diversity and parasite load in the asexual Poecilia formosa versus its sexual host species P. mexicana

Fabian Gösser et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

In accordance with the Red Queen hypothesis, the lower genotypic diversity in clonally reproducing species should make them easier targets for pathogen infection, especially when closely related sexually reproducing species occur in close proximity. We analyzed two populations of clonal P. formosa and their sexual parental species P. mexicana by correlating individual parasite infection with overall and immune genotype. Our study revealed lower levels of overall genotypic diversity and marginally fewer MHC class I alleles in P. formosa individuals compared to sexually reproducing P. mexicana. Parasite load, however, differed only between field sites but not between species. We hypothesize that this might be due to slightly higher genotypic diversity in P. formosa at the innate immune system (toll like receptor 8) which is likely due to the species' hybrid origin. In consequence, it appears that clonal individuals do not necessarily suffer a disadvantage compared to sexual individuals when fighting parasite infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Number of parasites for diploid (2n) P. formosa, triploid P. formosa (3n) and P. mexicana of the Río Guayalejo (G) and the Río Purificación (P) field sites.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Median number of MHC I alleles for diploid (2n) and triploid (3n) P. formosa and P. mexicana for both sample locations (G—Rio Guayalejo, P–RioPurificacion).
Box plots show median plus upper and lower quartile and minimum and maximum values.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Immune gene allele and genotype frequencies in all field sites.
A) MHC alleles in all locations, species and ploidy levels. B) MHC genotypes in all locations, species and ploidy levels. C) TLR 8 alleles in all locations, species and ploidy levels. D) TLR8 genotypes in all locations, species and ploidy levels. (Pmex–Poecilia mexicana, 2n –diploid, 3n –triploid).
Fig 4
Fig 4. TLR8 genotypes and the corresponding MHC class I genotypes of P. formosa (blue) and P. mexicana (red).
To facilitate the differentiation of alleles within species different shades of color are used.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Bell G. The masterpiece of nature: the evolution and genetics of sexuality. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1982.
    1. Otto SP, Lenormand T. Resolving the paradox of sex and recombination. Nature Reviews Genetics. 2002;3(4):252–61. 10.1038/nrg761 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lehtonen J, Jennions MD, Kokko H. The many costs of sex. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 2012;27(3):172–8. 10.1016/j.tree.2011.09.016 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maynard Smith J. The evolution of sex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1978.
    1. Ridley M. Evolution. Oxford: Blackwell; 2004.

Publication types

MeSH terms