Diverging patterns of introgression from Schistosoma bovis across S. haematobium African lineages

Hybridization is a fascinating evolutionary phenomenon that raises the question of how species maintain their integrity. Inter-species hybridization occurs between certain Schistosoma species that can cause important public health and veterinary issues. In particular hybrids between Schistosoma haematobium and S. bovis associated with humans and animals respectively are frequently identified in Africa. Recent genomic evidence indicates that some S. haematobium populations show signatures of genomic introgression from S. bovis. Here, we conducted a genomic comparative study and investigated the genomic relationships between S. haematobium, S. bovis and their hybrids using 19 isolates originating from a wide geographical range over Africa, including samples initially classified as S. haematobium (n = 11), S. bovis (n = 6) and S. haematobium x S. bovis hybrids (n = 2). Based on a whole genomic sequencing approach, we developed 56,181 SNPs that allowed a clear differentiation of S. bovis isolates from a genomic cluster including all S. haematobium isolates and a natural S. haematobium-bovis hybrid. All the isolates from the S. haematobium cluster except the isolate from Madagascar harbored signatures of genomic introgression from S. bovis. Isolates from Corsica, Mali and Egypt harbored the S. bovis-like Invadolysin gene, an introgressed tract that has been previously detected in some introgressed S. haematobium populations from Niger. Together our results highlight the fact that introgression from S. bovis is widespread across S. haematobium and that the observed introgression is unidirectional.

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S1 Table. Sequencing and alignment statistics obtained for each isolate analysed in this study.
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S2 Table. Details of the 29 genomic tracts that display a significant decrease in genomic divergence between either at least one S. haematobium isolate and all S. bovis isolates or at least one S. bov
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S1 Fig. Plots obtained from a PCA analysis based on 56.141 SNPs developed from the initial alignment of sequencing reads on the S. haematobium genome of reference. Isolates are projected within...
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S2 Fig. Plots obtained from a PCA analysis based on 172.046 SNPs developed from the initial alignment of sequencing reads on the S. bovis genome of reference. Isolates are projected ...
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Rey Olivier, Toulza Eve, Chaparro Cristian, Allienne Jean-François, Kincaid-Smith Julien, Mathieu-Begné Eglantine, Allan Fiona, Rollinson David, Webster Bonnie L., Boissier Jérôme (2021). Diverging patterns of introgression from Schistosoma bovis across S. haematobium African lineages. Plos Pathogens. 17 (2). 1009313 (20p.). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009313, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00678/79020/

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