The protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani causes fatal human visceral leishmaniasis in absence of treatment. Genome instability has been recognized as a driver in Leishmania fitness gain in response to environmental change or chemotherapy. How genome instability generates beneficial phenotypes despite potential deleterious gene dosage effects is unknown. Phenotypic analyses of parasites from early and late stages of culture adaptation revealed an important fitness tradeoff, with selection for accelerated growth in promastigote culture (fitness gain) impairing infectivity (fitness costs).
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