Ancestral genomes, sex, and the population structure of Trypanosoma cruzi.

Acquisition of detailed knowledge of the structure and evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi populations is essential for control of Chagas disease. We profiled 75 strains of the parasite with five nuclear microsatellite loci, 24Salpha RNA genes, and sequence polymorphisms in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II gene. We also used sequences available in GenBank for the mitochondrial genes cytochrome B and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1. A multidimensional scaling plot (MDS) based in microsatellite data divided the parasites into four clusters corresponding to T. cruzi I (MDS-cluster A), T. cruzi II (MDS-cluster C), a third group of T. cruzi strains (MDS-cluster B), and hybrid strains (MDS-cluster BH). The first two clusters matched respectively mitochondrial clades A and C, while the other two belonged to mitochondrial clade B. The 24Salpha rDNA and microsatellite profiling data were combined into multilocus genotypes that were analyzed by the haplotype reconstruction program PHASE. We identified 141 haplotypes that were clearly distributed into three haplogroups (X, Y, and Z). All strains belonging to T. cruzi I (MDS-cluster A) were Z/Z, the T. cruzi II strains (MDS-cluster C) were Y/Y, and those belonging to MDS-cluster B (unclassified T. cruzi) had X/X haplogroup genotypes. The strains grouped in the MDS-cluster BH were X/Y, confirming their hybrid character. Based on these results we propose the following minimal scenario for T. cruzi evolution. In a distant past there were at a minimum three ancestral lineages that we may call, respectively, T. cruzi I, T. cruzi II, and T. cruzi III. At least two hybridization events involving T. cruzi II and T. cruzi III produced evolutionarily viable progeny. In both events, the mitochondrial recipient (as identified by the mitochondrial clade of the hybrid strains) was T. cruzi II and the mitochondrial donor was T. cruzi III.

The Genetic Structure of Human Populations Studied Through Short Insertion-Deletion Polymorphisms.

In a landmark study Rosenberg et al. (2002) analyzed human genome diversity with 377 microsatellites in the HGDP-CEPH Genome Diversity Panel and reported that the populations were structured into five geographical regions: America, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Oceania and a cluster composed of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They also observed that the within-population component accounted for 93-95%, and that the among-regions portion was only 3.6%, of the total genetic variance. We have also studied the HGDP-CEPH Diversity Panel (1064 individuals from 52 populations) with a set of 40 biallelic slow-evolving short insertion-deletion polymorphisms (indels). We confirmed the partition of worldwide diversity into five genetic clusters that correspond to major geographic regions. Using the indels we have also disclosed an among-regions component of genetic variance considerably larger (12.1%) than had been estimated using microsatellites. Our study demonstrates that a set of 40 well-chosen biallelic markers is sufficient for the characterization of human population structure at the global level.

The genetic structure of human populations studied through short insertion-deletion polymorphisms.

In a landmark study Rosenberg et al. (2002) analyzed human genome diversity with 377 microsatellites in the HGDP-CEPH Genome Diversity Panel and reported that the populations were structured into five geographical regions: America, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Oceania and a cluster composed of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They also observed that the within-population component accounted for 93-95%, and that the among-regions portion was only 3.6%, of the total genetic variance. We have also studied the HGDP-CEPH Diversity Panel (1,064 individuals from 52 populations) with a set of 40 biallelic slow-evolving short insertion-deletion polymorphisms (indels). We confirmed the partition of worldwide diversity into five genetic clusters that correspond to major geographic regions. Using the indels we have also disclosed an among-regions component of genetic variance considerably larger (12.1%) than had been estimated using microsatellites. Our study demonstrates that a set of 40 well-chosen biallelic markers is sufficient for the characterization of human population structure at the global level.

Color and genomic ancestry in Brazilians: a study with forensic microsatellites.

The population of Brazil, formed by extensive admixture between Amerindians, Europeans and Africans, is one of the most variable in the world. We have recently published a study that used ancestry-informative markers to conclude that in Brazil, at an individual level, color, as determined by physical evaluation, was a poor predictor of genomic ancestry, estimated by molecular markers. To corroborate these findings we undertook the present investigation based on data from 12 commercially available forensic microsatellites that were utilized to estimate the personal genomic origin for each of 752 individuals from the city of São Paulo, belonging to different Brazilian color categories (275 Whites, 192 Intermediates and 285 Blacks). The genotypes permitted the calculation of a personal likelihood-ratio estimator of African or European ancestry. Although the 12 marker set proved capable of discriminating between European and African individuals, we observed very significant overlaps among the three color categories of Brazilians. This was confirmed quantitatively using a Bayesian analysis of population structure that did not demonstrate significant genetic differentiation between the three color groups. These results corroborate and validate our previous conclusions using ancestry-informative markers that in Brazil at the individual level there is significant dissociation of color and genomic ancestry.

Usefulness of microsatellite typing in population genetic studies of Trypanosoma cruzi

Through microsatellite analysis of 53 monoclonal populations of Trypanosoma cruzi, we found a remarkable degree of genetic polymorphism with no single multilocus genotype being observed more than once. The microsatellite profile proved to be stable during 70 generations of the CL Brener clone in culture. The microsatellite profiling presented also high diagnostic sensitivity since DNA amplifications could be achieved with less than 100 fg DNA, corresponding to half parasite total DNA content. Based on these technical attributes the microsatellite assay turns out to be an important tool for direct typing T. cruzi in biological samples. By using this approach we were able to type T. cruzi in feces of artificially infected bugs and in single cells sorted by FACS. The microsatellites have shown to be excellent markers for T. cruzi phylogenetic reconstruction. We used maximum parsimony based on the minimum number of mutational steps to build an unrooted Wagner network, which confirms previous conclusions based on the analysis of the D7 domain of the LSU rDNA gene that T. cruzi is composed by two major groups. We also obtained evidence that strains belonging to rRNA group 2 are subdivided into two genetically distant clusters, and that one of these clusters is more related to rRNA group 1/2. These results suggest different origins for these strains