@article{fdi:010072986,
  title = {{P}hylogeography of {T}oxoplasma gondii points to a {S}outh {A}merican origin},
  author = {{B}ertranpetit, {E}. and {J}ombart, {T}. and {P}aradis, {E}mmanuel and {P}ena, {H}. and {D}ubey, {J}. and {S}u, {C}. and {M}ercier, {A}. and {D}evillard, {S}. and {A}jzenberg, {D}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{T}oxoplasma gondii, a protozoan found ubiquitously in mammals and birds, is the etiologic agent of toxoplasmosis, a disease causing substantial public health burden worldwide, including about 200,000 new cases of congenital toxoplasmosis each year. {C}linical severity has been shown to vary across geographical regions, with {S}outh {A}merica exhibiting the highest burden. {U}nfortunately, the drivers of these heterogeneities are still poorly understood, and the geographical origin and historical spread of the pathogen worldwide are currently uncertain. {A} worldwide sample of 168 {T}. gondii isolates gathered in 13 populations was sequenced for five fragments of genes (140 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 3153 bp per isolate). {P}hylogeny based on {M}aximum likelihood methods with estimation of the time to the most recent common ancestor ({TMRCA}) and geostatistical analyses were performed for inferring the putative origin of {T}. gondii. {W}e show that extant strains of the pathogen likely evolved from a {S}outh {A}merican ancestor, around 1.5 million years ago, and reconstruct the subsequent spread of the pathogen worldwide. {T}his emergence is much more recent than the appearance of ancestral {T}. gondii, believed to have taken place about 11 {M}y ago, and follows the arrival of felids in this part of the world. {W}e posit that an ancestral lineage of {T}. gondii likely arrived in {S}outh {A}merica with felids and that the evolution of oral infectivity through carnivorism and the radiation of felids in this region enabled a new strain to outcompete the ancestral lineage and undergo a pandemic radiation.},
  keywords = {{AMERIQUE} {LATINE} ; {MONDE}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{I}nfection, {G}enetics and {E}volution},
  volume = {48},
  numero = {},
  pages = {150--155},
  ISSN = {1567-1348},
  year = {2017},
  DOI = {10.1016/j.meegid.2016.12.020},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010072986},
}