The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens.
Coexistence of multiple strains of a pathogen in a host population can present significant challenges to vaccine development or treatment efficacy. Here we discuss a novel mechanism that can increase rates of long-lived strain polymorphism, rooted in the presence of social structure in a host popula...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-11-01
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| Series: | PLoS Computational Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012619 |
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| author | Shuanger Li Davorka Gulisija Oana Carja |
| author_facet | Shuanger Li Davorka Gulisija Oana Carja |
| author_sort | Shuanger Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coexistence of multiple strains of a pathogen in a host population can present significant challenges to vaccine development or treatment efficacy. Here we discuss a novel mechanism that can increase rates of long-lived strain polymorphism, rooted in the presence of social structure in a host population. We show that social preference of interaction, in conjunction with differences in immunity between host subgroups, can exert varying selection pressure on pathogen strains, creating a balancing mechanism that supports stable viral coexistence, independent of other known mechanisms. We use population genetic models to study rates of pathogen heterozygosity as a function of population size, host population composition, mutant strain fitness differences and host social preferences of interaction. We also show that even small periodic epochs of host population stratification can lead to elevated strain coexistence. These results are robust to varying social preferences of interaction, overall differences in strain fitnesses, and spatial heterogeneity in host population composition. Our results highlight the role of host population social stratification in increasing rates of pathogen strain diversity, with effects that should be considered when designing policies or treatments with a long-term view of curbing pathogen evolution. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0d6b9826582745e3b33eea8b1342e46c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1553-734X 1553-7358 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS Computational Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-0d6b9826582745e3b33eea8b1342e46c2024-12-11T05:31:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Computational Biology1553-734X1553-73582024-11-012011e101261910.1371/journal.pcbi.1012619The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens.Shuanger LiDavorka GulisijaOana CarjaCoexistence of multiple strains of a pathogen in a host population can present significant challenges to vaccine development or treatment efficacy. Here we discuss a novel mechanism that can increase rates of long-lived strain polymorphism, rooted in the presence of social structure in a host population. We show that social preference of interaction, in conjunction with differences in immunity between host subgroups, can exert varying selection pressure on pathogen strains, creating a balancing mechanism that supports stable viral coexistence, independent of other known mechanisms. We use population genetic models to study rates of pathogen heterozygosity as a function of population size, host population composition, mutant strain fitness differences and host social preferences of interaction. We also show that even small periodic epochs of host population stratification can lead to elevated strain coexistence. These results are robust to varying social preferences of interaction, overall differences in strain fitnesses, and spatial heterogeneity in host population composition. Our results highlight the role of host population social stratification in increasing rates of pathogen strain diversity, with effects that should be considered when designing policies or treatments with a long-term view of curbing pathogen evolution.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012619 |
| spellingShingle | Shuanger Li Davorka Gulisija Oana Carja The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. PLoS Computational Biology |
| title | The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. |
| title_full | The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. |
| title_fullStr | The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. |
| title_short | The evolutionary cost of homophily: Social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host-associated pathogens. |
| title_sort | evolutionary cost of homophily social stratification facilitates stable variant coexistence and increased rates of evolution in host associated pathogens |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012619 |
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