Reproductive clonality in protozoan pathogens--truth or artifact? A comment on Ramírez and Llewellyn.

The predominant clonal evolution (PCE) model of micropathogens proposed by us has been challenged by a recent paper in Molecular Ecology. We review the main tenets of our model and show that the criticisms raised by the paper's authors are based on papers that are either misunderstood or misquoted. We argue that the PCE model and its recent developments (in particular the 'Russian doll model' dealing with micro-clonal evolution) are supported in most cases when adequate data are available.