Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Genetic exchange enables parasites to rapidly transform disease phenotypes and exploit new host populations. Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasitic agent of Chagas disease and a public health concern throughout Latin America, has for decades been presumed to exchange genetic material rarely and without classic meiotic sex. We present compelling evidence from 45 genomes sequenced from southern Ecuador that T. cruzi in fact maintains truly sexual, panmictic groups that can occur alongside others that remain highly clonal after past hybridization events. These groups with divergent reproductive strategies appear genetically isolated despite possible co-occurrence in vectors and hosts. We propose biological explanations for the fine-scale disconnectivity we observe and discuss the epidemiological consequences of flexible reproductive modes. Our study reinvigorates the hunt for the site of genetic exchange in the T. cruzi life cycle, provides tools to define the genetic determinants of parasite virulence, and reforms longstanding theory on clonality in trypanosomatid parasites.
Source: Nature Communications
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,200
Funders: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Wellcome Trust, Scottish Funding Council, Ministry of Environment, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, National Institutes of Health, Medical Research Council, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fogarty International Center, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Awards: Characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi in southern Ecuador, G2733601363, Landscape genetics guide NTD interventions: Chagas disease in Ecuador and Peru, G551931138, G5741074619, G5782573393, Regional Training Center for Tropical Disease Research in Quito-Ecuador, Institutional Strategic Support Fund, G6211339980, G6232290138, G6545643287, Institutional Strategic Support Fund, G8057911401, G8914172189
OpenAlex ID: W2972296854