Population Structure of Toxoplasma gondii: Clonal Expansion Driven by Infrequent Recombination and Selective Sweeps

Toxoplasma gondii is among the most successful parasites. It is capable of infecting all warm-blooded animals and causing opportunistic disease in humans. T gondii has a striking clonal population structure consisting of three predominant lineages in North America and Europe. Clonality is associated with the recent emergence of a monomorphic version of Chr 1a, which drove a selective genetic sweep within the past 10,000 years. Strains from South America diverged from those in North America some 1-2 mya; recently, however, the monomorphic Chr I a has extended into regions of South America, where it is also associated with clonality. The recent spread of a few dominant lineages has dramatically shaped the population structure of T gondii and has resulted in most lineages sharing a highly pathogenic nature. Understanding the factors that have shaped the population structure of T gondii has implications for the emergence and transmission of human pathogens.