Cargando…

Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males

Females in various species typically avoid males infected with parasites, while parasite-free males advertise their status through conspicuous phenotypic traits. This process selects for heritable resistance and reduces direct exposure of the female to parasites. Coevolving parasites are likely to a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari, Vasudevan, Anand, Dutta, Deborah, Soh, Linda Jing Ting, Sapolsky, Robert Morris, Vyas, Ajai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206931/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22073295
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027229
_version_ 1782215507318931456
author Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari
Vasudevan, Anand
Dutta, Deborah
Soh, Linda Jing Ting
Sapolsky, Robert Morris
Vyas, Ajai
author_facet Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari
Vasudevan, Anand
Dutta, Deborah
Soh, Linda Jing Ting
Sapolsky, Robert Morris
Vyas, Ajai
author_sort Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari
collection PubMed
description Females in various species typically avoid males infected with parasites, while parasite-free males advertise their status through conspicuous phenotypic traits. This process selects for heritable resistance and reduces direct exposure of the female to parasites. Coevolving parasites are likely to attempt to circumvent this obstacle. In this paper, we demonstrate a case of parasitic manipulation of host mate choice. We report that Toxoplasma gondii, a sexually transmitted infection of brown rats, enhances sexual attractiveness of infected males. Thus under some evolutionary niches, parasites can indeed manipulate host sexual signaling to their own advantage.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3206931
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32069312011-11-09 Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari Vasudevan, Anand Dutta, Deborah Soh, Linda Jing Ting Sapolsky, Robert Morris Vyas, Ajai PLoS One Research Article Females in various species typically avoid males infected with parasites, while parasite-free males advertise their status through conspicuous phenotypic traits. This process selects for heritable resistance and reduces direct exposure of the female to parasites. Coevolving parasites are likely to attempt to circumvent this obstacle. In this paper, we demonstrate a case of parasitic manipulation of host mate choice. We report that Toxoplasma gondii, a sexually transmitted infection of brown rats, enhances sexual attractiveness of infected males. Thus under some evolutionary niches, parasites can indeed manipulate host sexual signaling to their own advantage. Public Library of Science 2011-11-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3206931/ /pubmed/22073295 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027229 Text en Dass et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dass, Shantala Arundathi Hari
Vasudevan, Anand
Dutta, Deborah
Soh, Linda Jing Ting
Sapolsky, Robert Morris
Vyas, Ajai
Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title_full Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title_fullStr Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title_full_unstemmed Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title_short Protozoan Parasite Toxoplasma gondii Manipulates Mate Choice in Rats by Enhancing Attractiveness of Males
title_sort protozoan parasite toxoplasma gondii manipulates mate choice in rats by enhancing attractiveness of males
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206931/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22073295
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027229
work_keys_str_mv AT dassshantalaarundathihari protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales
AT vasudevananand protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales
AT duttadeborah protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales
AT sohlindajingting protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales
AT sapolskyrobertmorris protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales
AT vyasajai protozoanparasitetoxoplasmagondiimanipulatesmatechoiceinratsbyenhancingattractivenessofmales