Question

A highly virulent pathogen tends to kill its hosts very quickly. This high virulence is relatively unstable over the long run and the pathogen will evolve to become less virulent. This happens regardless of the adaptive changes in the host! So, ignore that! Use the 5 steps of Natural Selection to explain step by step why the pathogen will become less virulent. Do not try to conserve words; use all that you have. Reminder: evolution and adaptation do not happen because a population needs to or wants to or must. I will start it for you. 1) The pathogen population has a high level of genetic variation. 2) The most virulent strains of the pathogen kill their hosts very quickly and

Answer 1

The steps of natural selection of less virulent strain of virus should be ;

1. Overproduction : the pathogen multiplies it's number according to its innate potential.

2. Competition : there exists a competition between the individual viruses which are highly virulent and kill their hosts quickly. So diminishing the availability of hosts.

3. Variations : the variations exist in the population of viruses though which a less virulent form evolves and this variation is passed on to the progeny.

4. Adaptation : the virulent forms kill the host and so became unable to reproduce further. Adaptation of the strain to less virulent form ensures its survival and multiplication in the host by keeping the host alive.

5. Natural selection: As less virulent forms reproduce to the fullest in the hosts without killing them...so nature selects less virulent forms over more virulent form. More virulent strain cannot reproduce fully so gets eventually eliminated by the nature.