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Cospeciation vs host-shift speciation: methods for testing, evidence from natural associations and relation to
D M de Vienne1,2, G Refrégier3,4, M López-Villavicencio5
1Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain.
The New Phytologist
|February 27, 2013
Summary
Cospeciation, where hosts and symbionts speciate together, is rare. Long-term evolutionary dynamics show that host shifts, not cospeciation, are more common in host-parasite and host-mutualist relationships.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Symbiosis Research
- Host-Parasite Dynamics
Background:
- Hosts and symbionts engage in complex interactions influencing their evolution.
- The long-term evolutionary outcomes, specifically cospeciation versus host shifts, are critical to understanding these associations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and analyze the long-term evolutionary dynamics of host-symbiont associations, focusing on cospeciation and speciation after host shifts.
- To critically evaluate the occurrence of cospeciation and the reliability of cophylogenetic methods.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and critical analysis of theoretical and experimental studies.
- Comparison of divergence in pairwise associated host and symbiont species groups.
- Examination of cophylogenetic methods and their potential overestimation of cospeciation.
Main Results:
- Convincing cases of cospeciation are infrequent, occurring in only 7% of studied associations.
- Cophylogenetic methods tend to overestimate the prevalence of cospeciation events.
- Short-term coevolutionary dynamics can promote parasite specialization but do not necessitate cospeciation, often occurring after host shifts.
Conclusions:
- Long-term evolutionary patterns in host-symbiont associations are not predominantly driven by cospeciation.
- Host shifts play a significant role in the diversification of hosts and their symbionts.
- Coevolutionary dynamics do not strongly favor long-term cospeciation.
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