Frequency dynamics and presentation abilities of mutant alleles in the initial period following a mutation’s appearance.

<p>Panels in the upper row show averaged allele frequency dynamics over 25 generations after an allele mutation occurred under three mutation rates (see legend). Panels in the bottom row show the dynamics of median mutant allele immunocompetence in relation to the immunocompetence of resident alleles, measured as the number of pathogens presented in a given generation (weighted by the frequency of resident alleles). The measure was calculated across the last 6000 generations of 10 replicate simulations with the host population size N = 5000. Note that a presentation spectrum equal to 1 in the bottom row panels indicate the threshold at which a mutant allele is able to recognize, on average, the same proportion of pathogens as the resident alleles. For presentation purposes the scale on the Y-axis in the bottom row panels was log-transformed. Scenario labels: HA–heterozygote advantage, RQ–Red Queen, HA+RQ–both.