TY - JOUR
T1 - Evolutionary genomics of a zoonotic parasite across the Neotropical realm
AU - Heeren, Senne
AU - Sanders, Mandy J
AU - Shaw, Jeffrey Jon
AU - Brandão-Filho, Sinval Pinto
AU - Côrtes Boité, Mariana
AU - Cantanhêde, Lilian Motta
AU - Chourabi, Khaled
AU - Maes, Ilse
AU - Llanos-Cuentas, Alejandro
AU - Arevalo, Jorge
AU - Marco, Jorge D.
AU - Lemey, Philippe
AU - Cotton, James A
AU - Dujardin, Jean-Claude
AU - Cupolillo, Elisa
AU - Van den Broeck, Frederik
N1 - Preprint; (CC BY NC ND 4.0)
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The Neotropical realm, one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, houses a broad range of zoonoses that pose serious public health threats. Protozoan parasites of the Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis species complex cause zoonotic leishmaniasis in Latin America with clinical symptoms ranging from simple cutaneous to destructive, disfiguring mucosal lesions. We present the first comprehensive genome-wide continental study including 257 cultivated isolates representing most of the geographical distribution of this major human pathogen. The L. braziliensis species complex is genetically highly heterogeneous, consisting of divergent parasite groups that are associated with different environments and vary greatly in diversity. Apart from several small ecologically isolated groups with little diversity, our sampling identifies two major parasite groups, one associated with the Amazon and the other with the Atlantic Forest biomes. These groups show different recombination histories, as suggested by high levels of heterozygosity and effective population sizes in the Amazonian group in contrast to high levels of linkage and clonality in the Atlantic group. We argue that these differences are linked to strong eco-epidemiological differences between the two regions. In contrast to geographically focused studies, our study provides a broad understanding of the molecular epidemiology of zoonotic parasites circulating in tropical America.
AB - The Neotropical realm, one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, houses a broad range of zoonoses that pose serious public health threats. Protozoan parasites of the Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis species complex cause zoonotic leishmaniasis in Latin America with clinical symptoms ranging from simple cutaneous to destructive, disfiguring mucosal lesions. We present the first comprehensive genome-wide continental study including 257 cultivated isolates representing most of the geographical distribution of this major human pathogen. The L. braziliensis species complex is genetically highly heterogeneous, consisting of divergent parasite groups that are associated with different environments and vary greatly in diversity. Apart from several small ecologically isolated groups with little diversity, our sampling identifies two major parasite groups, one associated with the Amazon and the other with the Atlantic Forest biomes. These groups show different recombination histories, as suggested by high levels of heterozygosity and effective population sizes in the Amazonian group in contrast to high levels of linkage and clonality in the Atlantic group. We argue that these differences are linked to strong eco-epidemiological differences between the two regions. In contrast to geographically focused studies, our study provides a broad understanding of the molecular epidemiology of zoonotic parasites circulating in tropical America.
U2 - 10.1101/2024.06.06.597691
DO - 10.1101/2024.06.06.597691
M3 - Article
JO - bioRxiv
JF - bioRxiv
ER -