Letter
Biology
Jaime Lisack, Brooke Morriswood, Markus Engstler
Summary: This study discusses two possible interpretations of the trypanosome life cycle and argues for a model that allows for phenotypic plasticity in the slender stage and stochasticity in the trypanosome life cycle.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Christian Roedelsperger
Summary: The reannotation of phylogenomic data using community-curated P. pacificus gene set improves gene annotation quality, but inference of gene models based on homology drops beyond the genus level, suggesting the rapid evolution of nematode lineages. This highlights the need for optimizing gene annotation protocols and the importance of a high quality genome for phylogenomic studies.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
James P. Bernot, Geoffrey A. Boxshall, Keith A. Crandall
Summary: Copepods, a diverse group of pancrustaceans, dominate marine and freshwater ecosystems with parasitic associations with a wide range of marine metazoans. However, limited taxon sampling and reliance on a few molecular markers have hindered the understanding of copepod evolutionary relationships. A synthesis phylogeny combining published phylogenies and taxonomic data revealed transitions to parasitism in copepods on at least 14 occasions, with only a small percentage of copepod species sampled in molecular phylogenetic studies.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ming Fung Franco Au, Gray A. A. Williams, Jerome H. L. Hui
Summary: Schistosomiasis, caused by trematode flatworms of the genus Schistosoma, is a parasitic disease affecting over 230 million people worldwide. Infection occurs through various activities, with freshwater snails Biomphalaria releasing larvae that penetrate human skin. Understanding the biology of these snails is crucial for controlling the spread of schistosomiasis.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Boo Seong Jeon, Myung Gil Park
Summary: A new parasitoid was discovered along the west coast of Korea, sharing characteristics with existing families Perkinsidae and Parviluciferaceae but with unique features in cell structure and sporogenesis. Phylogenetic analysis revealed its relation to existing families and proposed the establishment of a new family Pararosariidae within the phylum Perkinsozoa.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Parasitology
Clarisse Louvard, Scott C. Cutmore, Russell Q-Y Yong, Cecile Dang, Thomas H. Cribb
Summary: The first intermediate host for a species of Didymozoidae (Trematoda: Hemiuroidea), a bivalve from the family Arcidae, was identified using multi-loci molecular data. The study examined different stages of a new didymozoid taxon and compared their genetic information. The findings provide insights into the relationships within Didymozoidae and Hemiuroidea, as well as the infection of bivalves as intermediate hosts.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Erika T. Ebbs, Eric S. Loker, Lijing Bu, Sean A. Locke, Vasyl V. Tkach, Ramesh Devkota, Veronica R. Flores, Hudson A. Pinto, Sara Brant
Summary: This study utilized targeted sequence capture of ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) to generate a phylogenomic dataset for the estimation of schistosomatid interrelationships. The resulting family-level phylogeny provided resolution to several long-standing uncertainties within the Schistosomatidae, highlighting the role of host-switching in diversification.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Isaure de Buron, Kristina M. Hill-Spanik, Tiffany Baker, Gabrielle Fignar, Jason Broach
Summary: Three juvenile Atlantic tripletail fish caught in Charleston Harbor, USA, displayed altered swimming behavior after being infected with strigeid trematode larvae. The larvae were identified as Cardiocephaloides medioconiger through genetic sequencing. This is the first report of Atlantic tripletail acting as a second intermediate host for C. medioconiger in South Carolina. The findings suggest that infection by C. medioconiger could potentially spread to other fish species and impact neighboring ecosystems.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Helena C. Turck, Mark T. Fox, Robert H. Cowie
Summary: This study provides a synthesis of the knowledge on paratenic hosts of Angiostrongylus cantonensis and investigates their role in causing human neuroangiostrongyliasis worldwide. The review identifies various animals as paratenic hosts, including prawns, crabs, fish, frogs, lizards, and snakes. The potential of these hosts to cause neuroangiostrongyliasis depends on consumption frequency, preparation methods, and infection prevalence. Safe food preparation protocols and public education are crucial for preventing human infections.
Review
Microbiology
Dominic Schwarz, Sebastian Lourido
Summary: This paper discusses the important roles of apicomplexan parasites as transcription factors and chromatin regulators, with a focus on Myb domain-containing proteins. Through phylogenetic analysis, it reveals the diversity and regulatory mechanisms of Myb domain-containing proteins, highlighting their functional heterogeneity in parasite differentiation.
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kevin R. Amses, D. Rabern Simmons, Joyce E. Longcore, Stephen J. Mondo, Kensuke Seto, Gustavo H. Jeronimo, Anne E. Bonds, C. Alisha Quandt, William J. Davis, Ying Chang, Brian A. Federici, Alan Kuo, Kurt LaButti, Jasmyn Pangilinan, William Andreopoulos, Andrew Tritt, Robert Riley, Hope Hundley, Jenifer Johnson, Anna Lipzen, Kerrie Barry, B. Franz Lang, Christina A. Cuomo, Nicolas E. Buchler, Igor V. Grigoriev, Joseph W. Spatafora, Jason E. Stajich, Timothy Y. James
Summary: By analyzing the genomes of flagellated fungi, we identified major evolutionary trends in non-Dikarya fungi. Our study revealed five lineages of flagellated fungi and found that some of these lineages have diploid-dominant life cycles. Additionally, we observed the loss of ancestral traits shared with animals across these fungi lineages. These findings caution against assuming that traits observed in Dikarya are representative of other fungal lineages.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xi Huang, Zelin Chen, Guocheng Yang, Canwei Xia, Qiujin Luo, Xiang Gao, Lu Dong
Summary: The study found that migratory birds are more likely to share parasites with resident birds at their breeding grounds, with shared parasites potentially more likely to spill over from the current host to other birds. Among the shared parasites, prevalence rates were significantly higher in resident birds than in migratory birds, and the similarity between parasite assemblages was not correlated with migration status or host phylogeny.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Mycology
Takashi Shirouzu, Takao K. Suzuki, Shunsuke Matsuoka, Susumu Takamatsu
Summary: The study clarified the evolutionary process of host type and appendage morphology in Cystotheceae using phylogenetic comparative methods, showing functional relationships between host type and appendage morphology, but lacking statistical support for an overall trend in evolutionary dependence between these traits.
Review
Parasitology
Anzhelika Butenko, Michael Hammond, Mark C. Field, Michael L. Ginger, Vyacheslav Yurchenko, Julius Lukes
Summary: Recent studies on the evolution of trypanosomatids have shown that ancestral features related to parasitism predate the transition to parasitism, indicating that certain preconditions make significant lifestyle changes more likely to occur. The robust phylogenetic reconstructions across Euglenozoa now provide a clearer evolutionary context for parasite-focused studies.
TRENDS IN PARASITOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yan-Da Li, Robin Kundrata, Gabriela Packova, Di-Ying Huang, Chen-Yang Cai
Summary: This study reports a new elateroid species, Anoeuma lawrencei, found in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Through detailed morphological comparisons, it was revealed that Anoeuma has unique characteristics that do not fit neatly into existing soft-bodied elateroid groups, indicating past diversity and morphological disparity within this insect family.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
