Oxamniquine resistance alleles are widespread in Old World Schistosoma mansoni and predate drug deployment
Do mutations required for adaptation occur de novo, or are they segregating within populations as standing genetic variation?
Abstract
Do mutations required for adaptation occur de novo, or are they segregating within populations as standing genetic variation? This question is key to understanding adaptive change in nature, and has important practical consequences for the evolution of drug resistance. We provide evidence that alleles conferring resistance to oxamniquine (OXA), an antischistosomal drug, are widespread in natural parasite populations under minimal drug pressure and predate OXA deployment. OXA has been used since the 1970s to treat Schistosoma mansoni infections in the New World where S. mansoni established during the slave trade.
This is a publication arising from the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) programme.
Citation
Chevalier F, Le Clec’h W, McDew-White M, Menon V, Guzman M, Holloway S, Cao X, Taylor A, Kinung’hi S, Gouvras A, Webster B, Webster J, Emery A, Rollinson D, Garba Djirmay A, Al Mashikhi K, Al Yafae S, Idris M, Moné H, Mouahid G, Hart P, LoVerde P, Anderson T (2019). Oxamniquine resistance alleles are widespread in Old World Schistosoma mansoni and predate drug deployment. PLoS Pathog. 15(10):e1007881.