Rougeron V, De Meeûs T, Bañuls A-L
MIVEGEC (Laboratoire Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle), UMR CNRS 5290-IRD 224-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), UMR 177 INTERTRYP IRD-CIRAD, TA A-17/G, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Infect Genet Evol. 2017 Jun;50:128-132. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2016.10.013. Epub 2016 Oct 19.
One key process of the life cycle of pathogens is their mode of reproduction. Indeed, this fundamental biological process conditions the multiplication and the transmission of genes and thus the propagation of diseases in the environment. Reproductive strategies of protozoan parasites have been a subject of debate for many years, principally due to the difficulty in making direct observations of sexual reproduction (i.e. genetic recombination). Traditionally, these parasites were considered as characterized by a preeminent clonal structure. Nevertheless, with the development of elaborate culture experiments, population genetics and evolutionary and population genomics, several studies suggested that most of these pathogens were also characterized by constitutive genetic recombination events. In this opinion, we focused on Leishmania parasites, pathogens responsible of leishmaniases, a major public health issue. We first discuss the evolutionary advantages of a mixed mating reproductive strategy, then we review the evidence of genetic exchange, and finally we detail available tools to detect naturally occurring genetic recombination in Leishmania parasites and more generally in protozoan parasites.
病原体生命周期的一个关键过程是它们的繁殖方式。事实上，这个基本的生物学过程决定了基因的增殖和传递，从而决定了疾病在环境中的传播。原生动物寄生虫的繁殖策略多年来一直是一个争论的话题，主要是因为难以直接观察有性繁殖（即基因重组）。传统上，这些寄生虫被认为具有突出的克隆结构。然而，随着精细培养实验、群体遗传学以及进化和群体基因组学的发展，一些研究表明，这些病原体中的大多数也具有组成性基因重组事件的特征。在这篇观点文章中，我们聚焦于利什曼原虫寄生虫，它们是导致利什曼病的病原体，这是一个重大的公共卫生问题。我们首先讨论混合交配繁殖策略的进化优势，然后回顾基因交换的证据，最后详细介绍用于检测利什曼原虫寄生虫以及更广泛地在原生动物寄生虫中自然发生的基因重组的现有工具。
