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Updated: Dec 21, 2025

Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
Genomics and High-Resolution Typing Confirm Predominant Clonal Evolution Down to a Microevolutionary Scale in
Michel Tibayrenc1, Francisco J Ayala2
1Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle, MIVEGEC (IRD 224-CNRS 5290-UM1-UM2), Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement, BP 34394 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France.
Abstract:
Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, is a paradigmatic case of the predominant clonal evolution (PCE) model, which states that the impact of genetic recombination in pathogens' natural populations is not sufficient to suppress a persistent phylogenetic signal at all evolutionary scales. In spite of indications for occasional recombination and meiosis, recent genomics and high-resolution typing data in T. cruzi reject the counterproposal that PCE does not operate at lower evolutionary scales, within the evolutionary units (=near-clades) that subdivide the species. Evolutionary patterns in the agent of Chagas disease at micro- and macroevolutionary scales are strikingly similar ("Russian doll pattern"), suggesting gradual, rather than saltatory evolution.
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