“Parasite turnover zone” at secondary contact: a new pattern in
host-parasite population genetics.
Abstract
We introduce a new pattern of population genetic structure in a
host-parasite system that can arise after secondary contact of
previously isolated populations. Due to different generation time and
therefore different tempo of molecular evolution the host and parasite
populations reach different degrees of genetic differentiation during
their separation (e.g. in refugia). Consequently, during the secondary
contact the host populations are able to re-establish a single panmictic
population across the area of contact, while the parasite populations
stop their dispersal at the secondary contact zone and create a narrow
hybrid zone. From the host’s perspective, the parasite’s hybrid zone
functions on a microevolutionary scale as a “parasite turnover zone”:
while the hosts are passing from area A to area B, their parasites turn
genetically from the area A genotypes to the area B genotypes. We
demonstrate this novel pattern on a model composed of Apodemus mice and
Polyplax lice by comparing maternally inherited markers (complete
mitochondrial genomes, and complete genomes of vertically transmitted
symbiont Legionella polyplacis) with SNPs derived from the louse genomic
data. We discuss circumstances that may lead to this pattern and
possible reasons why it has been overlooked in the studies on
host-parasite population genetics.