Data from: Testing sex ratio theory with the malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in natural and experimental infections

The malaria parasite (Plasmodium) life history accords well with the assumptions of Local Mate Competition (LMC) of sex ratio theory. Within a single meal of the blood-feeding vector, sexually dimorphic gametocyte cells produce gametes (females produce 1, males several) that mate and undergo sexual recombination. The theory posits several factors drive the Plasmodium sex ratio: male fecundity (gametes/ male gametocyte), number and relative abundance of parasite clones, and gametocyte density. We measured these traits for the lizard malaria parasite, P. mexicanum, with a large sample of natural infections and infections from experiments which manipulated clonal diversity. Sex ratio in single-clone infections was slightly female-biased, but matched predictions of theory for this low-fecundity species. Sex ratio was less female-biased in clonally diverse infections as predicted by LMC for the experimental, but not natural infections. Gametocyte density was not positively related to sex ratio. These results are explained by the P. mexicanum life history of naturally low clonal diversity and high gametocyte production. This is the first study of a natural malaria system that examines all traits relevant to LMC in individual vertebrate hosts and suggests a striking example of sex ratio theory having significance for human public health.Plasmodium mexicanum sex ratios and genotypes from Experiment II (Vardo-Zalik)Compiled data on experimentally initiated infections of the lizard malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in its natural host, the lizard Sceloporus occidentalis, including sex ratio and parasitemia counts and alleles observed at 4 microsatellite loci. Data was collected for the current study ("Testing sex ratio theory with the malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in natural and experimental infections") from samples generated for a previous study conducted by Joseph Schall and Anne Vardo-Zalik (see ReadMe file for citation and more detailed information).ExpIIVardoZalik.csvPlasmodium mexicanum sex ratios and genotypes from Experiment I (Osgood)Compiled data on experimentally initiated infections of the lizard malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in its natural host, the lizard Sceloporus occidentalis, including sex ratio and parasitemia counts and alleles observed at 4 microsatellite loci. Data was collected for the current study (Testing sex ratio theory with the malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in natural and experimental infections) from samples generated for a previous study conducted by Joseph Schall and Sarah Osgood (see ReadMe file for citation and more detailed information).ExpIOsgood.csvPlasmodium mexicanum sex ratios and genotypes from natural infections collected 2007-2009Compiled data on naturally-occuring infections of the lizard malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in its host, the lizard Sceloporus occidentalis, including sex ratio and parasitemia counts and alleles observed at 4 microsatellite loci. Data was collected for the current study (Testing sex ratio theory with the malaria parasite Plasmodium mexicanum in natural and experimental infections) from samples collected by Allison Neal, Jennifer Fricke, and Anne Vardo-Zalik. Contribution of other dataset authors is outlined in ReadMe file, as well as more detailed inforamtion about the study and data set.NatInf2007to2009.cs