Centre for Immunity, Infection, and Evolution and Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
Trends Parasitol. 2013 Sep;29(9):417-22. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2013.07.002. Epub 2013 Aug 5.
Understanding why pathogen populations are genetically variable is vital because genetic variation fuels evolution, which often hampers disease control efforts. Here I argue that classical models of evolution in spatially variable environments - specifically, models of hard and soft selection - provide a useful framework to understand the maintenance of pathogen polymorphism and the evolution of virulence. First, the similarities between models of hard and soft selection and pathogen life cycles are described, highlighting how the type and timing of pathogen control measures impose density regulation that may affect both the level of pathogen polymorphism and virulence. The article concludes with an outline of potential lines of future theoretical and experimental work.
理解为什么病原体种群在基因上是可变的至关重要，因为遗传变异推动了进化，而进化往往会阻碍疾病控制工作。在这里，我认为在空间变化的环境中进行的经典进化模型 - 具体来说，是硬选择和软选择模型 - 为理解病原体多态性的维持和毒力的进化提供了一个有用的框架。首先，描述了硬选择和软选择模型与病原体生命周期之间的相似之处，强调了病原体控制措施的类型和时机如何施加密度调节，这可能会影响病原体多态性和毒力的水平。本文最后概述了未来理论和实验工作的潜在方向。
