Biology, asked by Anonymous, 1 year ago

why didn't natural selection lead to evolution of totally harmless parasites?

Answers

Answered by Kuldeepnehra
19
Natural selection generally doesn't favor totally avirulent parasites (that is those which are totally harmless) because there is often positive association between virulence and transmissibility...... So, if virulence goes down, so does transmissibility---such strains will have lower fitness. That's why natural selection didn't lead to evolution of totally harmless (avirulent strains) parasites.

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Answered by mohsinkainat55
3

Natural selection didn't lead to the evolution of totally harmless parasite because if a parasite becomes totally harmless, then it is not parasitism but commensalism.

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