ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2019
Sexual reproduction in a natural Trypanosoma cruzi population.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- ClinicalbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Molecular and Genetic Analysis of the Increased Number of Genes forPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Potential vertical transmission of genetically diverse Trypanosoma cruzi in natural rodent populations.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Genetic Diversity ofLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Fifteen Years after the Definition ofLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Differential expression of meiosis and homologous recombination-related genes in the life cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi.Parasitology research · 2023Article
- Genomic surveillance: a potential shortcut for effective Chagas disease management.Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz · 2023Article
- Genome plasticity driven by aneuploidy and loss of heterozygosity inMicrobial genomics · 2022Article
- Sex in protists: A new perspective on the reproduction mechanisms of trypanosomatids.Genetics and molecular biology · 2022Article
- Article
- Diversity and interactions among triatomine bugs, their blood feeding sources, gut microbiota and Trypanosoma cruzi in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- PhyloQuant approach provides insights into Trypanosoma cruzi evolution using a systems-wide mass spectrometry-based quantitative protein profile.Communications biology · 2021Article
- High variation in immune responses and parasite phenotypes in naturally acquired Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a captive non-human primate breeding colony in Texas, USA.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- AssessingPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Guide RNA Repertoires in the Main Lineages ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Transcriptional remodeling during metacyclogenesis inVirulence · 2020Article
- Review
- Proteomic Insights into the Biology of the Most Important Foodborne Parasites in Europe.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSexual reproduction provides an evolutionary advantageous mechanism that combines favorable mutations that have arisen in separate lineages into the same individual. This advantage is especially pronounced in microparasites as allelic reassortment among individuals caused by sexual reproduction promotes allelic diversity at immune evasion genes within individuals which is often essential to evade host immune systems. Despite these advantages, many eukaryotic microparasites exhibit highly-clonal population structures suggesting that genetic exchange through sexual reproduction is rare. Evidence supporting clonality is particularly convincing in the causative agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, despite equally convincing evidence of the capacity to engage in sexual reproduction. METHODOLOGY/ PRINCIPLE
findingsIn the present study, we investigated two hypotheses that can reconcile the apparent contradiction between the observed clonal population structure and the capacity to engage in sexual reproduction by analyzing the genome sequences of 123 T. cruzi isolates from a natural population in Arequipa, Peru. The distribution of polymorphic markers within and among isolates provides clear evidence of the occurrence of sexual reproduction. Large genetic segments are rearranged among chromosomes due to crossing over during meiosis leading to a decay in the genetic linkage among polymorphic markers compared to the expectations from a purely asexually-reproducing population. Nevertheless, the population structure appears clonal due to a high level of inbreeding during sexual reproduction which increases homozygosity, and thus reduces diversity, within each inbreeding lineage. CONCLUSIONS/ SIGNIFICANCE: These results effectively reconcile the apparent contradiction by demonstrating that the clonal population structure is derived not from infrequent sex in natural populations but from high levels of inbreeding. We discuss epidemiological consequences of this reproductive strategy on genome evolution, population structure, and phenotypic diversity of this medically important parasite.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.