Association between host's genetic diversity and parasite burden in damselflies

Recent research indicates that low genetic variation in individuals can increase susceptibility to parasite infection, yet evidence from natural invertebrate populations remains scarce. Here, we studied the relationship between genetic heterozygosity, measured as AFLP‐based inbreeding coefficient fA...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of evolutionary biology Vol. 26; no. 8; pp. 1784 - 1789
Main Authors Kaunisto, K. M., Viitaniemi, H. M., Leder, E. H., Suhonen, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2013
Subjects
Actinocephalidae
AFLP
Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis
Animals
Apicomplexa
Apicomplexa - physiology
Calopteryx
Calopteryx splendens
Evolutionary biology
Female
Genetic diversity
Genetic Variation
gregarine parasite
heterozygosity‐fitness correlation
Host-Parasite Interactions - genetics
inbreeding coefficient
Insects
Male
Odonata - genetics
Odonata - parasitology
Parasites
Pathogens
inbreeding coefficient
Calopteryx
heterozygosity-fitness correlation
gregarine parasite
AFLP
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Summary:Recent research indicates that low genetic variation in individuals can increase susceptibility to parasite infection, yet evidence from natural invertebrate populations remains scarce. Here, we studied the relationship between genetic heterozygosity, measured as AFLP‐based inbreeding coefficient fAFLP, and gregarine parasite burden from eleven damselfly, Calopteryx splendens, populations. We found that in the studied populations, 5–92% of males were parasitized by endoparasitic gregarines (Apicomplexa: Actinocephalidae). Number of parasites ranged from none to 47 parasites per male, and parasites were highly aggregated in a few hosts. Mean individual fAFLP did not differ between populations. Moreover, we found a positive association between individual's inbreeding coefficient and parasite burden. In other words, the more homozygous the individual, the more parasites it harbours. Thus, parasites are likely to pose strong selection pressure against inbreeding and homozygosity. Our results support the heterozygosity‐fitness correlation hypothesis, which suggests the importance of heterozygosity for an individual's pathogen resistance.
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ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/jeb.12177