Running with the Red Queen: Host-Parasite Coevolution Selects for Biparental Sex
Abstract
Most organisms reproduce through outcrossing, even though it comes with substantial costs. The Red Queen hypothesis proposes that selection from coevolving pathogens facilitates the persistence of outcrossing despite these costs. We used experimental coevolution to test the Red Queen hypothesis and found that coevolution with a bacterial pathogen (Serratia marcescens) resulted in significantly more outcrossing in mixed mating experimental populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Furthermore, we found that coevolution with the pathogen rapidly drove obligately selfing populations to extinction, whereas outcrossing populations persisted through reciprocal coevolution. Thus, consistent with the Red Queen hypothesis, coevolving pathogens can select for biparental sex.
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Published In
Science
Volume 333 | Issue 6039
8 July 2011
8 July 2011
Copyright
Copyright © 2011, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 31 March 2011
Accepted: 24 May 2011
Published in print: 8 July 2011
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments: We thank H. Hundley and R. Matteson for logistical assistance. We also thank F. Bashey, L. Delph, P. Phillips, M. Parmenter, the Lively and Hall laboratories, and two reviewers for helpful comments and discussion, as well as the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin for a fellowship to C.M.L. during the preparation of the manuscript. Funding was provided by the NSF (DEB-0640639 to C.M.L) and the NIH (1F32GM096482-01 to L.T.M). Nematode strains were provided by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR). Data deposited at Dryad, 10.5061/dryad.c0q0h.
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