IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-11771-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meiotic sex in Chagas disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

Author

Listed:
  • Philipp Schwabl

    (University of Glasgow)

  • Hideo Imamura

    (Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp)

  • Frederik Broeck

    (Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp)

  • Jaime A. Costales

    (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador)

  • Jalil Maiguashca-Sánchez

    (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador)

  • Michael A. Miles

    (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

  • Bjorn Andersson

    (Karolinska Institutet)

  • Mario J. Grijalva

    (Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador
    Ohio University)

  • Martin S. Llewellyn

    (University of Glasgow)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp Schwabl & Hideo Imamura & Frederik Broeck & Jaime A. Costales & Jalil Maiguashca-Sánchez & Michael A. Miles & Bjorn Andersson & Mario J. Grijalva & Martin S. Llewellyn, 2019. "Meiotic sex in Chagas disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11771-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11771-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11771-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-11771-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Vela & Marco Coral-Almeida & Denis Sereno & Jaime A Costales & Christian Barnabé & Simone Frédérique Brenière, 2021. "In vitro susceptibility of Trypanosoma cruzi discrete typing units (DTUs) to benznidazole: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-11771-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.