Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Microorganisms evolve rapidly due to their large population sizes and short generation times, often exhibiting measurable changes within days under laboratory conditions. Natural selection acts on standing genetic variation, enabling the retention and amplification of beneficial traits that confer fitness advantages in changing environments.Adaptive Pigment Regulation in RhodobacterIn Rhodobacter, a genus of purple non-sulfur bacteria, light-harvesting pigments such as bacteriochlorophyll and...

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

In a population that is not at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of alleles changes over time. Therefore, any deviations from the five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can alter the genetic variation of a given population. Conditions that change the genetic variability of a population include mutations, natural selection, non-random mating, gene flow, and genetic drift (small population size).Mechanisms of Genetic VariationThe original sources of genetic variation are mutations,...

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Microbial evolution occurs rapidly due to short generation times and a variety of genetic processes, including horizontal gene transfer, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. These mechanisms collectively enable microbes to adapt swiftly to changing environments.Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) allows genes to move between different species and occurs through three main mechanisms: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves direct cell-to-cell contact for DNA...

Genetic Drift

Genetic Drift

Natural selection—probably the most well-known evolutionary mechanism—increases the prevalence of traits that enhance survival and reproduction. However, evolution does not merely propagate favorable traits, nor does it always benefit populations.Life is not fair. A deer grazing contentedly in a field can have her meal cut tragically short by a bolt of lightning. If the doomed doe is one of only three in the population, 1/3 of the population’s gene pool is lost. Random events like this can...

Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence

Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence

Infectious diseases appear in populations through various transmission patterns, influenced by pathogen characteristics, population immunity, environmental conditions, and social behavior. Understanding these patterns is essential for effective public health surveillance and intervention. These categories—sporadic, outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, and endemic—help frame the nature and scope of disease events.Sporadic diseases occur irregularly and infrequently, without a predictable temporal or...

Viral Mutations

Viral Mutations

A mutation is a change in the sequence of bases of DNA or RNA in a genome. Some mutations occur during replication of the genome due to errors made by the polymerase enzymes that replicate DNA or RNA. Unlike DNA polymerase, RNA polymerase is prone to errors because it is not capable of “proofreading” its work. Viruses with RNA-based genomes, like HIV, therefore accrue mutations faster than viruses with DNA-based genomes. Because mutation and recombination provide the raw material for adaptive...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

Socioecological determinants of dog ownership in Mara region, Tanzania.

Preventive veterinary medicine·2025

Same author

Model-based methods for hospital infection prevention and control: potential and challenges.

BMC global and public health·2025

Same author

Using step selection functions to analyse human mobility using telemetry data in infectious disease epidemiology: a case study of leptospirosis.

eLife·2025

Same author

Between-country differences in the psychosocial profiles of British cattle farmers.

The Veterinary record·2025

Same author

A scoping review and taxonomy of epidemiological-macroeconomic models for livestock diseases.

Preventive veterinary medicine·2025

Same author

Climate variability amplifies the need for vector-borne disease outbreak preparedness.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Stochasticity generates an evolutionary instability for infectious disease.

Jonathan M Read¹, Matt J Keeling

¹Mathematics Institute & Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. jonathan.read@warwick.ac.uk

Ecology Letters

|August 1, 2007

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Stochasticity in disease evolution, even with equal transmission rates, drives strains towards rapid (acute) or persistent (chronic) behaviors, influencing all disease scenarios.

More Related Videos

Sealable Femtoliter Chamber Arrays for Cell-free Biology

Sealable Femtoliter Chamber Arrays for Cell-free Biology

Published on: March 11, 2015

High-Throughput Live Imaging of Microcolonies to Measure Heterogeneity in Growth and Gene Expression

High-Throughput Live Imaging of Microcolonies to Measure Heterogeneity in Growth and Gene Expression

Published on: April 18, 2021

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Sealable Femtoliter Chamber Arrays for Cell-free Biology

Sealable Femtoliter Chamber Arrays for Cell-free Biology

Published on: March 11, 2015

High-Throughput Live Imaging of Microcolonies to Measure Heterogeneity in Growth and Gene Expression

High-Throughput Live Imaging of Microcolonies to Measure Heterogeneity in Growth and Gene Expression

Published on: April 18, 2021

Area of Science:

Evolutionary epidemiology
Mathematical modeling of infectious diseases
Disease dynamics

Background:

Traditional disease evolution models assume deterministic competition and complete cross-immunity, predicting selection for higher basic reproductive ratios (R(0)).
Stochastic (random) factors introduce complexity, influencing disease evolution beyond deterministic predictions.
Understanding stochasticity's role is crucial for accurate disease outbreak and spread predictions.

Purpose of the Study:

To isolate and analyze the impact of stochasticity on disease strain evolution.
To investigate evolutionary dynamics when deterministic selection pressures (based on R(0)) are removed.
To identify general principles governing disease strain evolution under stochastic conditions.

Main Methods:

Developed stochastic models of disease evolution.
Constrained competing strains to have equal basic reproductive ratios (R(0)) to eliminate deterministic selection.
Analyzed the resulting evolutionary unstable strategies and strain behavior.

Main Results:

Stochastic models predict an evolutionary unstable strategy, creating distinct regions favoring either acute (rapid transmission) or chronic (persistent) strains.
Strain evolution is consistently driven towards these epidemiological extremes.
These stochastic selective pressures operate alongside deterministic selection, influencing evolution in all scenarios, even without the R(0) constraint.

Conclusions:

Stochasticity is a fundamental driver of disease strain evolution, pushing strains to extremes of transmission behavior.
The findings challenge traditional deterministic models and highlight the importance of incorporating randomness in epidemiological predictions.
Understanding these stochastic dynamics is essential for predicting and managing infectious disease evolution.