Evolutionary sex allocation theory explains sex ratios in natural Plasmodium falciparum infections.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Schneider P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614805 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Evolutionary sex allocation theory explains sex ratios in natural Plasmodium falciparum infections.
Schneider Petra P Babiker Hamza A HA Gadalla Amal A H AAH Reece Sarah E SE
International journal for parasitology 20190531 8
Malaria transmission is achieved by sexual stages, called gametocytes, and the proportion of gametocytes that are male versus female (sex ratio) influences transmission success. In malaria model systems, variation in gametocyte sex ratios can be explained by the predictions of evolutionary sex allocation theory. We test these predictions using natural Plasmodium falciparum infections. The predicted negative correlation between sex ratio and gametocyte density holds: the sex ratio increases when ...[more]
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