title: Phylogenomic reconstruction supports supercontinent origins for Leishmania.
abstract: Leishmania, a genus of parasites transmitted to human hosts and mammalian/reptilian reservoirs by an insect vector, is the causative agent of the human disease complex leishmaniasis. The evolutionary relationships within the genus Leishmania and its origins are the source of ongoing debate, reflected in conflicting phylogenetic and biogeographic reconstructions. This study employs a recently described bioinformatics method, SISRS, to identify over 200,000 informative sites across the genome from newly sequenced and publicly available Leishmania data. This dataset is used to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of this genus. Additionally, we constructed a large multi-gene dataset, using it to reconstruct the phylogeny and estimate divergence dates for species. We conclude that the genus Leishmania evolved at least 90-100 million years ago, supporting a modified version of the Multiple Origins hypothesis that we call the Supercontinent hypothesis. According to this scenario, separate Leishmania clades emerged prior to, and during, the breakup of Gondwana. Additionally, we confirm that reptile-infecting Leishmania are derived from mammalian forms and that the species that infect porcupines and sloths form a clade long separated from other species. Finally, we firmly place the guinea-pig infecting species, Leishmaniaenriettii, the globally dispersed Leishmaniasiamensis, and the newly identified Australian species from a kangaroo, as sibling species whose distribution arises from the ancient connection between Australia, Antarctica, and South America.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Human Paleogenomics Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA; School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. Electronic address: kmharkin@ucsc.edu.
authors.forename: Kelly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Harkins
authors.affiliation: The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.affiliation: The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Reed A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cartwright
authors.affiliation: School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA; Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Anne C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Stone
mesh_terms: D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D014644:Genetic Variation; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D023281:Genomics; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D007891:Leishmania / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D007896:Leishmaniasis / Q000469:parasitology; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: Evolution; Leishmania; Phylogenomics