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Parasitism, the Diversity of Life, and Paleoparasitology
Adauto Araújo; Ana Maria Jansen; Françoise Bouchet; Karl Reinhard & Luiz Fernando Ferreira
Abstract
The parasite-host-environment
system is dynamic, with several points of equilibrium. This makes it difficult
to trace the thresholds between benefit and damage, and therefore, the definitions
of commensalism, mutualism, and symbiosis become worthless. Therefore, the same
concept of parasitism may encompass commensalism, mutualism, and symbiosis. Parasitism
is essential for life. Life emerged as a consequence of parasitism at the molecular
level, and intracellular parasitism created evolutive events that allowed species
to diversify. An ecological and evolutive approach to the study of parasitism
is presented here. Studies of the origin and evolution of parasitism have new
perspectives with the development of molecular paleoparasitology, by which ancient
parasite and host genomes can be recovered from disappeared populations. Molecular
paleoparasitology points to host-parasite co-evolutive mechanisms of evolution
traceable through genome retrospective studies.
Keywords
evolution - paleoparasitology - parasitism - infectious diseases - ancient DNA - origin of parasitism
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