Ecological divergence and hybridization of Neotropical Leishmania parasites

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium / Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Institute of Immunology and Infection Research University of Edinburgh, EH8 9YL Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Centre of Medical Genetics, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, 1000 Brussels. Belgium.
Parasite Genomics Group, Wellcome Sanger Institute, CB10 Hinxton. United Kingdom.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
Institute of Immunology and Infection Research University of Edinburgh, EH8 9YL Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WC1E 7HT London, United Kingdom.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium / Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt. Cayetano Heredia University, 15000 Lima, Peru.
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt. Cayetano Heredia University, 15000 Lima, Peru.
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt. Cayetano Heredia University, 15000 Lima, Peru.
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt. Cayetano Heredia University, 15000 Lima, Peru.
Instituto de Investigación Biomédicas e Investigación Social, Universidad Mayor de San Simon, 06651 Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Pesquisa em Leishmaniose. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WC1E 7HT London, United Kingdom.
Parasite Genomics Group, Wellcome Sanger Institute, CB10 Hinxton, United Kingdom.
Institute of Immunology and Infection Research University of Edinburgh, EH8 9YL Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Parasite Genomics Group, Wellcome Sanger Institute, CB10 Hinxton, United Kingdom.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium / de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt, Cayetano Heredia University, 15000 Lima, Peru.

Abstract

The tropical Andes are an important natural laboratory to understand speciation in many taxa. Here we examined the evolutionary history of parasites of the Leishmania braziliensis species complex based on whole-genome sequencing of 67 isolates from 47 localities in Peru. We first show the origin of Andean Leishmania as a clade of near-clonal lineages that diverged from admixed Amazonian ancestors, accompanied by a significant reduction in genome diversity and large structural variations implicated in host–parasite interactions. Within the Andean species, patterns of population structure were strongly associated with biogeographical origin. Molecular clock and ecological niche modeling suggested that the history of diversification of the Andean lineages is limited to the Late Pleistocene and intimately associated with habitat contractions driven by climate change. These results suggest that changes in forestation over the past 150,000 y have influenced speciation and diversity of these Neotropical parasites. Second, genome-scale analyses provided evidence of meiotic-like recombination between Andean and Amazonian Leishmania species, resulting in full-genome hybrids. The mitochondrial genome of these hybrids consisted of homogeneous uniparental maxicircles, but minicircles originated from both parental species. We further show that mitochondrial minicircles— but not maxicircles—show a similar evolutionary pattern to the nuclear genome, suggesting that compatibility between nuclearencoded mitochondrial genes and minicircle-encoded guide RNA genes is essential to maintain efficient respiration. By comparing full nuclear and mitochondrial genome ancestries, our data expand our appreciation on the genetic consequences of diversification and hybridization in parasitic protozoa.

Keywords in Portuguese

Genômica de especiação
Especiação ecológica
Genômica populacional
Doença transmitida por vetores
Hibridização interespecífica

Keywords

Speciation genomics
Ecological speciation
Population genomics
Vector-borne disease
Interspecific hybridization

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Citation

VAN DEN BROECK, Frederik et al, Ecological divergence and hybridization of Neotropical Leishmania parasites. PNAS, v. 117, n. 40, p. 25159-15168, Oct. 2020.

DOI

10.1073/pnas.1920136117

ISSN

0027-8424

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/45541

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Open access

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