Arabidopsis thaliana and the Robin Hood parasite: a chivalrous oomycete that steals fitness from fecund hosts and benefits the poorest one?

Are parasites always harmful to their hosts? By definition, indeed, but in a few cases and particular environments, hosts experience higher fitness in the presence than in the absence of their parasites. Symbiotic associations form a continuum of interactions, from deleterious to beneficial effects on hosts. In this paper, we investigate the outcome of parasite infection of Arabidopsis thaliana by its natural pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsis. This system exhibits a wide range of parasite impact on host fitness with, surprisingly, deleterious effects on high fecundity hosts and, at the opposite extreme, seemingly beneficial effects on the least fecund one. This phenomenon might result from varying levels of tolerance among host lines and even overcompensation for parasite damage analogous to what can be observed in plant-herbivore systems.