A non-sexual population of Strongyloides stercoralis

Depending on the environmental conditions, S. stercoralis switches between asexual parasitic and sexual free-living generations. In the Guangxi province (China) we identified a population of S. stercoralis that appears to have fully transitioned to asexual reproduction. We failed to detect sexual stages and, in the genomes, we found indication of asexuality such as a high heterozygosity. Additionally, in our study area, all S. stercoralis are genetically closely related, suggesting a rather recent common origin.