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

: Kaunisto KM, Viitaniemi HM, Leder EH, Suhonen J

Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL

: 2013

: Journal of Evolutionary Biology

: J EVOLUTION BIOL

: 8

: 26

: 8

: 1784

: 1789

: 6

: 1010-061X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12177

: http://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id:84881030088

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 f, 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 f 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. © 2013 THE AUTHORS. © 2013 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.