The outcomes of host-parasite interactions depend on the coevolutionary forces acting upon them, but because every host-parasite relation is enmeshed in a web of biotic and abiotic interactions across a heterogeneous landscape, host-parasite coevolution has proven difficult to study. Simple laboratory phage-bacteria microcosms can ameliorate this difficulty by allowing controlled, well-replicated experiments with a limited number of interactors. Genetic, population, and life history data obtained from these studies permit a closer examination of the fundamental correlates of host-parasite coevolution. In this paper, I describe the results of phage-bacteria coevolutionary studies and their implications for the study of host-parasite coevolution. Recent experimental studies have confirmed phage-host coevolutionary dynamics in the laboratory and have shown that coevolution can increase parasite virulence, specialization, adaptation, and diversity. Genetically, coevolution frequently proceeds in a manner best described by the Gene for Gene model, typified by arms race dynamics, but certain contexts can result in Red Queen dynamics according to the Matching Alleles model. Although some features appear to apply only to phage-bacteria systems, other results are broadly generalizable and apply to all instances of antagonistic coevolution. With laboratory host-parasite coevolutionary studies, we can better understand the perplexing array of interactions that characterize organismal diversity in the wild.
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机译：寄主与寄生虫相互作用的结果取决于作用在它们之间的协同进化力，但是由于每种寄主与寄生虫之间的关系都陷入了跨异质景观的生物和非生物相互作用的网络中，因此已证明难以研究寄主与寄生虫的协同进化。简单的实验室噬菌体细菌微观世界可以通过使用有限数量的相互作用物进行受控的，重复性良好的实验来缓解这一困难。从这些研究中获得的遗传，种群和生活史数据可以更仔细地研究宿主-寄生虫协同进化的基本相关性。在本文中，我描述了噬菌体-细菌协同进化研究的结果及其对宿主-寄生虫协同进化研究的意义。最近的实验研究已经证实了实验室中噬菌体-宿主的协同进化动力学，并表明协同进化可以增加寄生虫的毒力，专一性，适应性和多样性。从遗传学上讲，协同进化通常以“ Gene for Gene”模型最恰当地描述，以军备竞赛动力学为代表，但是根据Matching等位基因模型，某些情况下可能导致Red Queen动力学。尽管某些功能似乎仅适用于噬菌体细菌系统，但其他结果可广泛推广并适用于拮抗协同进化的所有情况。通过实验室宿主-寄生虫的协同进化研究，我们可以更好地了解表征野生生物多样性的相互作用的困惑。
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