The Red Queen

You have learned something of the human genome and its variations between people and peoples. Variation and rate of change of variation are not constant over the genome. Some of the most variation-rich parts encode the machineries that engage pathogens, often components of the innate and adaptive immune system. On the evolutionary playing field the reciprocal interactions between host and pathogen have been called an arms race. Change and the selection pressure that each places on the other leaves both host and pathogen racing across the fitness landscape without much change in the scenery. At the end of the day, usually both host and pathogen remain, but not quite as they were in the morning.

Learning resources

• Study Guide
• Klunk et al (2022) Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death
• Barber and Elde (2014) Escape from bacterial iron piracy through rapid evolution of transferrin
• Lee et al (2001) Human transferrin G277S mutation: a risk factor for iron deficiency anaemia
• Enard and Petrov (2018) Evidence that RNA Viruses Drove Adaptive Introgression between Neanderthals and Modern Humans
• Quaglia (7th Sept, 2023, BBC Future) How Darwinism is changing medicine (outside link)
• Zaner (1990) Medicine and Dialog