The cosmopolitan parasitic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii is capable of infecting essentially any warm-blooded vertebrate worldwide, including most birds and mammals, and establishes chronic infections in one-third of the globe's human population. The success of this highly prevalent zoonosis is largely the result of its ability to propagate both sexually and clonally. Frequent genetic exchanges via sexual recombination among extant parasite lineages that mix in the definitive felid host produces new lines that emerge to expand the parasite's host range and cause outbreaks. Highly successful lines spread clonally via carnivorism and in some cases sweep to pandemic levels. The extent to which sexual reproduction versus clonal expansion shapes Toxoplasma's current, global population genetic structure is the central question this review will attempt to answer.

中文翻译：

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爆发和克隆扩张所间断的性重组预示着弓形虫群体遗传学。


世界性寄生病原体弓形虫能够感染世界上几乎任何温血脊椎动物，包括大多数鸟类和哺乳动物，并在全球三分之一的人口中造成慢性感染。这种高度流行的人畜共患病的成功很大程度上归功于其有性传播和克隆传播的能力。现存的寄生虫谱系通过有性重组进行频繁的基因交换，这些谱系与最终的猫科动物宿主混合，产生新的谱系，这些新谱系的出现扩大了寄生虫的宿主范围并导致爆发。非常成功的品系通过肉食性无性系传播，在某些情况下甚至达到大流行的程度。有性生殖与克隆扩张在多大程度上塑造了弓形虫当前的全球种群遗传结构，这是本综述试图回答的核心问题。