Parasites - partners for life!
Two Daphnia magna from a rock pool population in Finland. The left female is infected with Spirobacillus cienkowskii.
The main focus of the group are the evolution, genetics and ecology of host-parasite interactions. We ask questions about the adaptive significance of parasite virulence (Why do hosts get sick? Is virulence adaptive for the parasite?), the mechanisms of host-parasite coevolution and the adaptive significance of genetic variation and sexual recombination (What is sex good for?). Our work also includes the study of inbreeding and inbreeding depression and its relationship to parasitism. We conduct our research in the laboratory and at our field site in South-Western Finland. Methods include experimental epidemiology, experimental evolution, manipulation of natural populations, evolutionary genomics and evolutionary genetics.
Our main study organisms are microparasites (bacteria, fungi, protozoans) and their hosts, waterfleas of the genus Daphnia. This system allows us to estimate fitness components of hosts and parasites, which is essential for the quantification of costs and benefits in both antagonists. We also use genomic approaches to find genes involved in host-parasite interactions, for example genome scans and QTL mapping.