Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Facultative virulence: a strategy to manipulate host behaviour?

Fleur Ponton1, David G Biron, Janice Moore

  • 1Génétique et Evolution des Maladies Infectieuses, GEMI/UMR CNRS-IRD 2724, Equipe: "Evolution des Systèmes Symbiotiques", IRD, 911 Avenue Agropolis, B.P. 5045, 34032 Montpellier Cedex 1, France.

Behavioural Processes
|January 13, 2006
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

The cost of fame for popular species: strong risk of biases in comparative oncology of captive species.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026
Same author

Bee vulnerability to climate change in a shifting nutritional landscape: why sociality and life-history strategy matter.

Current opinion in insect science·2026
Same author

Caste- and sex-specific differential investment in brain regions of Australian ants.

iScience·2026
Same author

When effective anticancer therapies are, in fact, destabilizing the tumor's Group Phenotypic Composition.

NPJ precision oncology·2026
Same author

Scientists' Warning on the Rapid Evolution of Parasites in the Anthropocene.

Evolutionary applications·2026
Same author

Detection of a <i>Merbecovirus</i> with potential ACE2 usage in France.

Emerging microbes & infections·2026

Parasites manipulate host behavior, but hosts may cooperate to reduce fitness costs. This "mafia-like" strategy, where parasites impose costs for non-compliance, could explain the evolution of parasite-induced behavioral changes.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Parasitology
  • Behavioral ecology

Background:

  • Parasitic manipulation of host behavior is common but poorly understood.
  • Existing evolutionary explanations often focus on the extended phenotype concept.
  • The fitness costs and evolutionary dynamics for hosts remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose an alternative evolutionary framework for parasite-host behavioral interactions.
  • To investigate the potential for host cooperation as a strategy against parasite manipulation.
  • To explore the 'mafia-like' parasite strategy in the evolution of behavioral alterations.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of host-parasite interactions.
  • Analysis of existing case studies on behavioral manipulation.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Conceptual framework development.

    • Main Results:

    • Hosts cooperating with manipulative parasites may mitigate fitness costs.
    • Parasites imposing costs for non-compliance can select for host cooperation.
    • This 'mafia-like' strategy offers a novel perspective on host manipulation.

    Conclusions:

    • Host cooperation is a plausible evolutionary response to parasite manipulation.
    • The 'mafia-like' strategy provides a new lens for understanding parasite-induced behavioral changes.
    • Further empirical research is needed to validate this theoretical framework.