S. Gandon

Evolution of Virulence in Emerging Epidemics: From Theory to Experimental Evolution and Back

This study combines experimental, theoretical, and statistical approaches to improve the quantitative validation of models predicting virulence evolution in bacteriophages.

A multilocus perspective on the evolutionary dynamicsof multistrain pathogens

The paper unifies existing models of multistrain pathogen evolution by identifying three key factors: immune protection strength, immunological dynamics, and antigen locus number.

Cities as parasitic amplifiers? Malaria prevalence and diversity in great tits along an urbanization gradient

This study examines malaria prevalence and diversity in great tits across an urbanization gradient, finding higher prevalence in adults and urban nestlings, and increased parasite diversity in natural urban parks.

Eco-evolutionary feedbacks shape the evolution of constitutive and inducible defences

The paper shows that the initial resistance mechanism in bacteria during an epidemic strongly influences the evolution of constitutive and inducible defenses, with ecological factors shaping long-term outcomes.

Bacterial defences interact synergistically by disrupting phage cooperation

This study identifies a novel bacterial defence system, MADS, which synergizes with CRISPR-Cas to protect against phages with anti-CRISPR genes by disrupting phage cooperation.

Effect of unequal vaccination coverage and migration on long-term pathogen evolution in a metapopulation

The paper analyzes how spatial vaccination coverage and migration affect pathogen evolution in a metapopulation, showing that vaccines reducing virulence can lead to more virulent pathogens and strain coexistence.

Seasonality and the persistence of vector-borne pathogens

The paper analyzes how seasonality affects the persistence of vector-borne pathogens by developing a perturbation analysis framework to evaluate the consequences of environmental fluctuations on pathogen dynamics.

Phage-antibiotic synergy: cell filamentation is a key driver of successful phage predation

This study shows that antibiotic-induced filamentation enhances phage predation by increasing bacterial surface area and susceptibility, leading to phage-antibiotic synergy.

Evolution and spread of multi-adapted pathogens in a spatially heterogeneous environment

This study models how multi-adapted pathogens evolve and spread in spatially heterogeneous environments, showing that multi-adaptation can drive epidemic spread while single-adaptation occurs later.

Building pyramids against the evolutionary emergence of pathogens

The paper compares three host resistance strategies to prevent pathogen evolutionary emergence, finding that pyramiding multiple defenses is more effective than mixing or combining strategies.

Competition and coevolution drive the evolution and the diversification of CRISPR immunity

This study shows coevolution between phages and bacteria drives CRISPR immunity diversification through negative-frequency-dependent selection and competitive asymmetries among host genotypes.

Multilocus adaptation to vaccination

This study examines how vaccines influence the joint evolution of multiple mutations in pathogens, showing that vaccine types affect epistasis and recombination outcomes.

Genetic determinism of phage-bacteria coevolution in natural populations

The paper investigates phage-bacteria coevolution in natural populations, finding that phage and host genomes exhibit gene content variation and that negative-frequency dependent selection drives coevolutionary dynamics.

Evolution of class-structured populations in fluctuating environments

The paper develops a theoretical framework to analyze how periodic environmental fluctuations influence life-history trait evolution in structured populations, with applications to pathogen dynamics.

Evolution of virulence in emerging epidemics: inference from an evolution experiment

The paper estimates epidemiological parameters of two bacteriophage strains from an evolution experiment to understand virulence evolution in epidemics.

Understanding the evolution of multiple drug resistance in structured populations

This paper uses dynamical equations for linkage disequilibrium to analyze the evolution of multidrug resistance in structured populations and shows how they explain equilibrium patterns, transient dynamics, and drug prescription impacts.

Gene regulation of the avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum, during the different stages within the mosquito vector

This study examines gene regulation of Plasmodium relictum in its mosquito vector at different life stages, identifying stage-specific gene expression and novel genes.

Winter is coming: pathogen emergence in seasonal environments

The paper examines how seasonality affects pathogen emergence probability and shows that optimal control strategies may not minimize R0, with implications for improving Zika risk maps.

Exploitation of the cooperative behaviours of anti-CRISPR phages

This study shows Acr-negative phages benefit from Acr-positive phages by exploiting their immunosuppressive effects, with stronger Acr proteins providing greater fitness advantages.

To block or not to block: the adaptive manipulation of plague transmission

This paper develops an epidemiological model to analyze the adaptive nature of biofilm formation in Yersinia pestis and its impact on plague transmission.

Evolution of specialization in heterogeneous environments: equilibrium between selection, mutation and migration

The paper studies the balance of selection, mutation, and migration in heterogeneous environments and shows how migration can increase differentiation in a source-sink scenario.

Evolutionary emergence of infectious diseases in heterogeneous host populations

This paper develops a theoretical model to predict pathogen emergence based on host population heterogeneity and validates it with experiments using bacteriophages and CRISPR-resistant bacteria.

Anti-CRISPR phages cooperate to overcome CRISPR-Cas immunity

The paper shows that Acr-phages cooperate to overcome CRISPR-Cas immunity, with phage density and CRISPR resistance levels affecting their epidemiology.

Timing malaria transmission with mosquito fluctuations

This study tests the Hawking hypothesis by showing Plasmodium relictum uses two strategies to align transmission with mosquito activity, detecting periodic parasitaemia increases in the late afternoon and a positive effect of mosquito bites on replication.

Pathogen evolution: slow and steady spreads the best

The paper extends life history evolution theory to account for finite population size effects on pathogen virulence evolution, showing demographic stochasticity alters classical deterministic predictions.

Evolution and manipulation of vector host choice

This paper develops an epidemiological model to study how vector host choice behavior affects disease dynamics and how pathogens manipulate this behavior, finding that vectors often avoid infected hosts while pathogens may induce opposite preferences.