Figure 1

Population structure scenarios based on the polymorphic potential of microsatellite markers. (i) Markers generating reduced diversity due to reduced mutability will not be able to resolve existing population structure; (ii) markers generating excess diversity due to increased mutability may confound local population structure, making it difficult to compare different geographic regions; (iii) markers with balanced diversity, calibrated to the population comparisons of interest, can decipher population structure and provide meaningful insight into parasite migration and evolution.