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Plasticity, not genetic variation, drives infection success of a fungal parasite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2015

C. L. SEARLE ,
J. H. OCHS ,
C. E. CÁCERES ,
S. L. CHIANG ,
N. M. GERARDO ,
S. R. HALL  and
M. A. DUFFY
C. L. SEARLE*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
J. H. OCHS
Affiliation:
School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
C. E. CÁCERES
Affiliation:
School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
S. L. CHIANG
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA
N. M. GERARDO
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA
S. R. HALL
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
M. A. DUFFY
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 915 W. State Street, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2054, USA. E-mail: searlec@purdue.edu
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Summary

Hosts strongly influence parasite fitness. However, it is challenging to disentangle host effects on genetic vs plasticity-driven traits of parasites, since parasites can evolve quickly. It remains especially difficult to determine the causes and magnitude of parasite plasticity. In successive generations, parasites may respond plastically to better infect their current type of host, or hosts may produce generally ‘good’ or ‘bad’ quality parasites. Here, we characterized parasite plasticity by taking advantage of a system in which the parasite (the yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata, which infects Daphnia) has no detectable heritable variation, preventing rapid evolution. In experimental infection assays, we found an effect of rearing host genotype on parasite infectivity, where host genotypes produced overall high or low quality parasite spores. Additionally, these plastically induced differences were gained or lost in just a single host generation. Together, these results demonstrate phenotypic plasticity in infectivity driven by the within-host rearing environment. Such plasticity is rarely investigated in parasites, but could shape epidemiologically important traits.

Keywords

host-induced variationhost–parasite coevolutionDaphnia dentiferaMetschnikowia bicuspidatainfectivitypathogenwithin-host dynamics
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 142 , Issue 6 , May 2015 , pp. 839 - 848
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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