Integrating hybridization and introgression into host-parasite epidemiology, ecology, and evolution.

Abstract

Hybridization and introgression between host species or between parasite species are emerging challenges for human, plant, and animal health, especially as global trends like climate change and urbanization increase overlap of species ranges. This creates opportunities for heterospecific crosses between diverged taxa that could generate novel host and parasite genotypes with unique traits (e.g., transmission rate, virulence, susceptibility, and resistance) compared with their parental taxa. However, there seems to be slow appreciation of this biological phenomenon in empirical and theoretical approaches to host-parasite interactions. This limits our understanding of the effects of hybridization on epidemiology, ecology, and evolution. Here, we address some pressing questions regarding the emergence and relevance of eukaryotic hybrid genotypes for disease dynamics.