Resistance Correlations Influence Infection by Foreign Pathogens

We present models describing the genetic basis for assessing resistance relationships between endemic and foreign pathogens and for quantifying infection probabilities on foreign pathogen introduction. We show that even when the foreign pathogen has a lower average infection ability than the endemic pathogen, infection outcomes are determined by the sign and strength of the regression of the host's genetic variation in infection rates by a foreign pathogen on variation in infection rates by an endemic pathogen as well as by resistance allele frequencies. Given that preinvasion equilibria of resistance are determined by factors including resistance costs, we show that protection against foreign pathogens afforded by positively correlated resistances can be lessened or even result in elevated infection risk at the population level, depending on local dynamics. Therefore, a pathogen's emergence potential could be influenced not only by its average infection rate but also by resistance variation resulting from prior selection imposed by endemic diseases.PMID:34260867 | PMC:PMC8283004 | DOI:10.1086/715013

Source: The American Naturalist - July 14, 2021 Category: Biology Authors: Noah Lerner Victoria Luizzi Janis Antonovics Emily Bruns Michael E Hood Source Type: research