Host-Microbe Interaction and Evolution

Abstract

Evolution has been shaping the genetic structure of populations across generations, using mutation and recombination, migration, drift and selection to create and/or corrode variation. The array of traits presented by individuals in a population is dependent on several factors, such as their heritability or the genetic pool available to the adaptive process. Additionally, the multitude of complex relationships within and between species creates another level of complexity that can compromise the pinpointing of the contributing factors and their relative weight to such changes. As so, understandably, disentangling the factors that influence the course of evolution in natural populations is of extreme importance but also of great difficulty. (...)