Valdivia Rodríguez, Hugo OswaldoRoatt, Bruno MendesBaptista, Rodrigo de PaulaOttino, JenniferSantos, Anderson Coqueiro dosSanders, Mandy J.Reis, Alexandre BarbosaCotton, James A.Bartholomeu, Daniella Castanheira2023-10-062023-10-062022VALDIVIA RODRÍGUEZ, H. O. et al. Replacement of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum populations in an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, v. 12, artifgo 900084, 2022. Disponível em: <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.900084/full>. Acesso em: 01 ago. 2023.2235-2988http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/jspui/handle/123456789/17539Visceral leishmaniasis is an important global health problem with an estimated of 50,000 to 90,000 new cases per year. VL is the most serious form of leishmaniasis as it can be fatal in 95% of the cases if it remains untreated. VL is a particularly acute problem in Brazil which contributed with 97% of all cases reported in 2020 in the Americas. In this country, VL affects mainly the poorest people in both urban and rural areas and continues to have a high mortality rate estimated around 8.15%. Here, we performed a temporal parasite population study using whole genome sequence data from a set of 34 canine isolates sampled in 2008, 2012 and 2015 from a re-emergent focus in Southeastern Brazil. Our study found the presence of two distinct sexual subpopulations that corresponded to two isolation periods. These subpopulations diverged hundreds of years ago with no apparent gene flow between them suggesting a process of rapid replacement during a two-year period. Sequence comparisons and analysis of nucleotide diversity also showed evidence of balancing selection acting on transport-related genes and antigenic families. To our knowledge this is the first population genomic study showing a turn-over of parasite populations in an endemic region for leishmaniasis. The complexity and rapid adaptability of these parasites pose new challenges to control activities and demand more integrated approaches to understand this disease in New World foci.en-USabertoL. infantumGenomicsGenetic variabilityBrazilPopulation replacementArtigo publicado em periodicoThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Fonte: PDF do artigo.https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2022.900084