North American import? Charting the origins of an enigmatic Trypanosoma cruzi domestic genotype.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, is currently recognized as a complex of six lineages or Discrete Typing Units (DTU): TcI-TcVI. Recent studies have identified a divergent group within TcI - TcI(DOM). TcI(DOM). is associated with a significant proportion of human TcI infections in South America, largely absent from local wild mammals and vectors, yet closely related to sylvatic strains in North/Central America. Our aim was to examine hypotheses describing the origin of the TcI(DOM) genotype. We propose two possible scenarios: an emergence of TcI(DOM) in northern South America as a sister group of North American strain progenitors and dispersal among domestic transmission cycles, or an origin in North America, prior to dispersal back into South American dome

SUBMITTER: Zumaya-Estrada FA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3481457 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature