Disentangling Genetic Variation for Resistance and Tolerance to Infectious Diseases in Animals
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Hosts can in principle employ two different strategies to defend themselves against parasites: resistance and tolerance. Animals typically exhibit considerable genetic variation for resistance (the ability to limit parasite burden). However, little is known about whether animals can evolve tolerance (the ability to limit the damage caused by a given parasite burden). Using rodent malaria in laboratory mice as a model system and the statistical framework developed by plant-pathogen biologists, we demonstrated genetic variation for tolerance, as measured by the extent to which anemia and weight loss increased with increasing parasite burden. Moreover, resistance and tolerance were negatively genetically correlated. These results mean that animals, like plants, can evolve two conceptually different types of defense, a finding that has important implications for the understanding of the epidemiology and evolution of infectious diseases.
Source: Science
Authors: Lars Råberg, Derek Sim, Andrew F. Read
Institutions: Lund University, University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Wellcome Trust
OpenAlex ID: W2063838707