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Parasitology

Table of Contents - July 2012 - Volume 139, Issue 08  

Review Article

Testing local-scale panmixia provides insights into the cryptic ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of metazoan animal parasites

MARY J. GORTONa1†, EMILY L. KASLa1†, JILLIAN T. DETWILERa1† and CHARLES D. CRISCIONEa1 c1

a1 Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, 3258 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA

SUMMARY

When every individual has an equal chance of mating with other individuals, the population is classified as panmictic. Amongst metazoan parasites of animals, local-scale panmixia can be disrupted due to not only non-random mating, but also non-random transmission among individual hosts of a single host population or non-random transmission among sympatric host species. Population genetics theory and analyses can be used to test the null hypothesis of panmixia and thus, allow one to draw inferences about parasite population dynamics that are difficult to observe directly. We provide an outline that addresses 3 tiered questions when testing parasite panmixia on local scales: is there greater than 1 parasite population/species, is there genetic subdivision amongst infrapopulations within a host population, and is there asexual reproduction or a non-random mating system? In this review, we highlight the evolutionary significance of non-panmixia on local scales and the genetic patterns that have been used to identify the different factors that may cause or explain deviations from panmixia on a local scale. We also discuss how tests of local-scale panmixia can provide a means to infer parasite population dynamics and epidemiology of medically relevant parasites.

(Received December 14 2011)

(Revised February 15 2012)

(Accepted February 16 2012)

(Online publication April 04 2012)

Key words

Correspondence:

c1 Corresponding author: Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, 3258 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA. Tel: +979 845 0917. Fax: +979 845 2891. E-mail: ccriscione@mail.bio.tamu.edu

Footnotes

† The first three authors contributed equally and authorship was determined by random pick.

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