Evolutionary sex allocation theory explains sex ratios in natural Plasmodium falciparum infections.

Evolutionary sex allocation theory explains sex ratios in natural Plasmodium falciparum infections. Int J Parasitol. 2019 May 30;: Authors: Schneider P, Babiker HA, Gadalla AAH, Reece SE Abstract Malaria transmission is achieved by sexual stages, called gametocytes, and the proportion of gametocytes that are male versus female (sex ratio) influences transmission success. In malaria model systems, variation in gametocyte sex ratios can be explained by the predictions of evolutionary sex allocation theory. We test these predictions using natural Plasmodium falciparum infections. The predicted negative correlation between sex ratio and gametocyte density holds: the sex ratio increases when gametocyte densities decrease, and this is most apparent in single genotype infections and in the dry season. We do not observe higher gametocyte sex ratios in mixed compared with single genotype infections. PMID: 31153899 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research