Biek Roman, Drummond Alexei J, Poss Mary
Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
Science. 2006 Jan 27;311(5760):538-41. doi: 10.1126/science.1121360.
Directly transmitted parasites often provide substantial information about the temporal and spatial characteristics of host-to-host contact. Here, we demonstrate that a fast-evolving virus (feline immunodeficiency virus, FIV) can reveal details of the contemporary population structure and recent demographic history of its natural wildlife host (Puma concolor) that were not apparent from host genetic data and would be impossible to obtain by other means. We suggest that rapidly evolving pathogens may provide a complementary tool for studying population dynamics of their hosts in "shallow" time.
直接传播的寄生虫通常能提供大量有关宿主间接触的时间和空间特征的信息。在此，我们证明一种快速进化的病毒（猫免疫缺陷病毒，FIV）能够揭示其天然野生动物宿主（美洲狮）当代种群结构的细节以及近期的种群历史，这些细节从宿主遗传数据中并不明显，且通过其他方式也无法获得。我们认为，快速进化的病原体可能为在“近期”时间尺度上研究其宿主的种群动态提供一种补充工具。
