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dc.contributor.authorHolding, T
dc.contributor.authorValletta, J
dc.contributor.authorRecker, M
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-06T13:45:27Z
dc.date.issued2018-09-05
dc.description.abstractAntigenic diversity is commonly used by pathogens to enhance their transmission success. Within-host clonal antigenic variation helps to maintain long infectious periods, whereas high levels of allelic diversity at the population level significantly expand the pool of susceptible individuals. Diversity, however, is not necessarily a static property of a pathogen population but in many cases is generated by the very act of infection and transmission, and it is therefore expected to respond dynamically to changes in transmission and immune selection. We hypothesized that this coupling creates a positive feedback whereby infection and disease transmission promote the generation of diversity, which itself facilitates immune evasion and further infections. To investigate this link in more detail, we considered the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, one of the most important antigenically diverse pathogens. We developed an individual-based model in which antigenic diversity emerges as a dynamic property from the underlying transmission processes. Our results show that the balance between stochastic extinction and the generation of new antigenic variants is intrinsically linked to within-host and between-host immune selection. This in turn determines the level of diversity that can be maintained in a given population. Furthermore, the transmission-diversity feedback can lead to temporal lags in the response to natural or intervention-induced perturbations in transmission rates. Our results therefore have important implications for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of disease control efforts.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 192 (6)en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1086/699535
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/33941
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherUniversity of Chicago Pressen_GB
dc.rights© 2018 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits reuse of the work with attribution.
dc.subjectantigenic diversityen_GB
dc.subjectimmune selectionen_GB
dc.subjectrecombinationen_GB
dc.subjectpositive feedbacken_GB
dc.subjectPlasmodium falciparumen_GB
dc.subjectindividual-based modelen_GB
dc.titleMultiscale Immune Selection and the Transmission-Diversity Feedback in Antigenically Diverse Pathogen Systemsen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.identifier.issn0003-0147
dc.descriptionThis is the final version of the article. Available from University of Chicago Press via the DOI in this record.en_GB
dc.identifier.journalThe American Naturalisten_GB


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