Abstract
The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is endemic worldwide. For such a widespread pathogen that has few geographic or host boundaries, it possess an unexpected population structure comprised principally of three clonally propagated lineages. The origin and the evolutionary dynamics of these three lines are unclear. Recent population genetic analyses suggest that a meiotic recombination between two discrete gene pools produces a pandemic outbreak of three super-successful lines, which have recently come to dominate most other strains worldwide.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 685-690 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Microbes and Infection |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2003 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank John Boothroyd for many helpful discussions, and Todd Margolis, Marie-Laure Dardé, Tovi Lehmann and David Sibley for providing parasite DNA. This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health Research (AI47730 to YS) and NSERC (MEG). M.E.G. is a scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
Keywords
- Clonality
- Evolution
- Recombination
- Toxoplasma gondii
- Virulence
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
