Data from: The impact of host genetic diversity on virus evolution and emergence

Accumulating evidence indicates that biodiversity has an important impact on parasite evolution and emergence. The vast majority of studies in this area have only considered the diversity of species within an environment as an overall measure of biodiversity, overlooking the role of genetic diversity within a particular host species. Although theoretical models propose that host genetic diversity in part shapes that of the infecting parasite population, and hence modulates the risk of parasite emergence, this effect has seldom been tested empirically. Using Rabies virus (RABV) as a model parasite, we provide evidence that greater host genetic diversity increases both parasite genetic diversity and the likelihood of a host being a donor in RABV cross-species transmission events. We conclude that host genetic diversity may be an important determinant of parasite evolution and emergence.越来越多的研究证据表明，生物多样性对寄生虫的演化与暴发具有重要影响。该领域绝大多数现有研究仅将环境内的物种多样性作为生物多样性的整体衡量指标，却忽略了特定宿主物种内部的遗传多样性所发挥的作用。尽管理论模型提出宿主遗传多样性会在一定程度上塑造感染性寄生虫种群的遗传多样性，进而调控寄生虫暴发的风险，但该效应鲜有实证研究予以验证。本研究以狂犬病病毒（Rabies virus, RABV）作为模式寄生虫，通过实验证实宿主遗传多样性越高，寄生虫的遗传多样性越高，同时宿主成为狂犬病病毒跨物种传播事件中供体的概率也越高。本研究最终得出结论：宿主遗传多样性可能是影响寄生虫演化与暴发的重要决定因素。