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Updated: Apr 5, 2026

An Introduction to Parasitic Wasps of Drosophila and the Antiparasite Immune Response
Published on: May 7, 2012
EVOLUTION. Fruit flies diversify their offspring in response to parasite infection
Nadia D Singh1, Dallas R Criscoe2, Shelly Skolfield3
1Department of Biological Sciences and Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. ndsingh@ncsu.edu schlenkt@reed.edu.
Abstract:
The evolution of sexual reproduction is often explained by Red Queen dynamics: Organisms must continually evolve to maintain fitness relative to interacting organisms, such as parasites. Recombination accompanies sexual reproduction and helps diversify an organism's offspring, so that parasites cannot exploit static host genotypes. Here we show that Drosophila melanogaster plastically increases the production of recombinant offspring after infection. The response is consistent across genetic backgrounds, developmental stages, and parasite types but is not induced after sterile wounding. Furthermore, the response appears to be driven by transmission distortion rather than increased recombination. Our study extends the Red Queen model to include the increased production of recombinant offspring and uncovers a remarkable ability of hosts to actively distort their recombination fraction in rapid response to environmental cues.
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