Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
Biol Lett. 2011 Apr 23;7(2):265-8. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0857. Epub 2010 Oct 20.
The Red Queen hypothesis is based on the assumption that parasites must genetically match their hosts to infect them successfully. If the parasites fail, they are assumed to be killed by the host's immune system. Here, we tested this using sympatric (mostly susceptible) and allopatric (mostly resistant) populations of a freshwater snail and its trematode parasite. We determined whether parasites which do not infect are either killed or passed through the host's digestive tract and remain infectious. Our results show that parasites do not get a second chance: they either infect or are killed by the host. The results suggest strong selection against parasites that are not adapted to local host genotypes.
红色女王假说基于这样一种假设,即寄生虫必须在基因上与宿主匹配才能成功感染宿主。如果寄生虫失败,它们就会被宿主的免疫系统杀死。在这里,我们使用淡水蜗牛及其吸虫寄生虫的同域(主要易感)和异域(主要抗性)种群来检验这一点。我们确定了不感染的寄生虫是被杀死还是通过宿主的消化道排出并保持传染性。我们的结果表明,寄生虫没有第二次机会:它们要么感染宿主,要么被宿主杀死。结果表明,对不适应当地宿主基因型的寄生虫存在强烈的选择压力。