Authors
Franssen, Susanne UDurrant, Caroline
Stark, Olivia
Moser, Bettina
Downing, Tim
Imamura, Hideo
Dujardin, Jean-Claude
Sanders, Mandy J
Mauricio, Isabel
Miles, Michael A
Schnur, Lionel F
Jaffe, Charles L
Nasereddin, Abdelmajeed
Schallig, Henk
Yeo, Matthew
Bhattacharyya, Tapan
Alam, Mohammad Z
Berriman, Matthew
Wirth, Thierry
Schönian, Gabriele
Cotton, James A
Issue Date
2020-03-25Keywords
Leishmania donovani / infantumaneuploidy
GENETICS
GENOMICS
hybridisation
infectious disease
MICROBIOLOGY
neglected tropical disease
visceral leishmaniasis
Metadata
Show full item recordJournal
eLifeDOI
10.7554/eLife.51243PubMed ID
32209228Abstract
Protozoan parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex - L. donovani and L. infantum - cause the fatal disease visceral leishmaniasis. We present the first comprehensive genome-wide global study, with 151 cultured field isolates representing most of the geographical distribution. L. donovani isolates separated into five groups that largely coincide with geographical origin but vary greatly in diversity. In contrast, the majority of L. infantum samples fell into one globally-distributed group with little diversity. This picture is complicated by several hybrid lineages. Identified genetic groups vary in heterozygosity and levels of linkage, suggesting different recombination histories. We characterise chromosome-specific patterns of aneuploidy and identified extensive structural variation, including known and suspected drug resistance loci. This study reveals greater genetic diversity than suggested by geographically-focused studies, provides a resource of genomic variation for future work and sets the scene for a new understanding of the evolution and genetics of the Leishmania donovani complex.Item Type
ArticleOther
Language
enEISSN
2050-084Xae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.7554/eLife.51243