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Coevolution of hosts and parasites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

R. M. Anderson  and
R. M. May
R. M. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Biology, Imperial College, London University, London SW7 2BB
R. M. May
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544
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Extract

The coevolution of parasites and their hosts has both general biological interest and practical implications in agricultural, veterinary and medical fields. Surprisingly, most medical, parasitological and ecological texts dismiss the subject with unsupported statements to the effect that ‘successful’ parasite species evolve to be harmless to their hosts. Recently, however, several people have explored theoretical aspects of the population genetics of host-parasite associations; these authors conclude that such associations may be responsible for much of the genetic diversity found within natural populations, from blood group polymorphisms (Haldane, 1949) to protein polymorphisms in general (Clarke, 1975, 1976) and to histocompatibility systems (Duncan, Wakeland & Klein, 1980). It has also been argued that pathogens may constitute the selective force responsible for the evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction in animal and plant species (Jaenike, 1978; Hamilton, 1980, 1981, 1982; Bremermann, 1980).

Type
Trends and Perspectives
Information
Parasitology , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , October 1982 , pp. 411 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

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