Much of the vast evolutionary landscape occupied by Eukaryotes is dominated by protists. Though parasitism has arisen in many lineages, there are three main groups of parasitic protists of relevance to human and livestock health: the Apicomplexa, including the malaria parasite Plasmodium and coccidian pathogens of livestock such as Eimeria; the excavate flagellates, encompassing a diverse range of protist pathogens including trypanosomes, Leishmania, Giardia and Trichomonas; and the Amoebozoa, including pathogenic amoebae such as Entamoeba. These three groups represent separate, deep branches of the eukaryote tree, underlining their divergent evolutionary histories. Here, I explore what is known about sex in these three main groups of parasitic protists.

真核生物占据的广阔进化景观中，大部分都由原生生物主导。尽管寄生虫在许多谱系中出现，但与人类和牲畜健康相关的寄生原生生物主要分为三类：Apicomplexa，包括疟原虫疟原虫和家畜的球虫病原体，如艾美球虫；挖掘鞭毛虫，包括各种原生生物病原体，包括锥虫、利什曼原虫、贾第虫和毛滴虫；和变形虫，包括致病性变形虫，如内阿米巴. 这三个群体代表了真核生物树的独立深枝，突显了它们不同的进化历史。在这里，我探索了关于这三个主要寄生原生生物群体的性知识。