J. Langand et S. Morand, HERITABLE NON-SUSCEPTIBILITY IN AN ALLOPATRIC HOST-PARASITE SYSTEM - BIOMPHALARIA-GLABRATA (MOLLUSCA) ECHINOSTOMA-CAPRONI (PLATYHELMINTH DIGENEA), The Journal of parasitology, 84(4), 1998, pp. 739-742
We studied the heritability of adult nonsusceptibility/susceptibility
in an allopatric host-parasite system, Biomphalaria glabrata (Brazil)-
Echinostoma caproni (Egypt). In this system, the fitness of the infect
ed host is substantially reduced because of castration. Mean frequenci
es of susceptibility among progeny of individual susceptible or nonsus
ceptible parents were compared, and heritabilities of susceptibility a
nd nonsusceptibility were calculated under a quantitative genetic mode
l. A Monte-Carlo simulation was used to assess the significance of the
heritability estimates under the hypothesis of normal standard deviat
ion. The results showed high heritability of both nonsusceptibility (0
.56) and susceptibility (0.91).