Parasites & Vectors最新文献

{"title":"Species distribution modeling to predict tsetse fly (Glossina spp.) habitat suitability in Kenya.","authors":"Raphael Mongare, Stella Gachoki, Elhadi Adam, Emily Kimathi, Antoine M G Barreaux, Giuliano Cecchi, Seth Onyango, Nancy Ngari, Daniel Masiga, Elfatih M Abdel-Rahman","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-06938-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-06938-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>African animal trypanosomosis (AAT) and human African trypanosomosis (HAT) are transmitted and spread primarily by tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) in sub-Saharan Africa. The animal disease poses significant challenges to agropastoral systems, including in Kenya, where 38 out of 47 counties are infested with eight species of Glossina. Climate change and human activities can also aggravate these infestations, putting rural-scale farmers who rely on agropastoral systems at a greater risk. Geographical gaps in existing entomological datasets limit a comprehensive understanding of tsetse fly distribution across the country, especially amid rapid landscape dynamics.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study aimed to predict the spatial distribution of tsetse flies habitat in Kenya using recent entomological data (i.e., tsetse fly occurrence records), satellite-derived environmental variables, landscape structure, demographic indicators, and species-distribution modeling techniques. We applied four machine learning (ML) algorithms-random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVM), maximum entropy (MaxEnt), and generalized linear models (GLM)-to predict tsetse flies habitat suitability. Additionally, we developed ensemble models that combine the predictive power of the four algorithms. Predictions were made at the genus level (Glossina spp.) and the species level for one priority species (Glossina pallidipes).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The models performed well with true skill statistic (TSS) and area under the curve (AUC) metric measures of 0.67 and 0.88 for Glossina spp. and 0.85 and 0.96 for G. pallidipes, respectively. The predictions indicated an estimated potential suitable area of about 26% of Kenya for Glossina spp. and 9% for G. pallidipes. Tsetse fly habitat suitability was positively correlated with increased sheep density, normalized difference vegetation index, and soil moisture. However, suitability declined when the maximum land surface temperature (LST) exceeded 40 °C and elevation increased above 400 m.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings can help improve the targeting and, hence, the cost-effectiveness of surveillance and ultimately support an evidence-based progressive control of tsetse flies infestation in Kenya.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"378"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12462162/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145138408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The first finding of Hyalomma rufipes in Poland in 2024: the promising start of a citizen science project.","authors":"Wiktoria Romanek, Dorota Dwużnik-Szarek, Dagmara Wężyk, Wiktoria Małaszewicz, Mohammed Alsarraf, Anna W Myczka, Anna Bajer","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-07022-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-07022-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Hyalomma spp. ticks play a crucial role as vectors for the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Hyalomma spp. larvae and nymphs are transported via migratory birds to temperate regions of Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Mediterranean areas. Recently, the emergence of adult ticks has been documented in numerous countries where they were previously not reported. This study aimed to monitor the potential occurrence of Hyalomma spp. ticks in Poland using a citizen science project.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A dedicated website was created through which volunteers could submit photos of unusual ticks. Between April and November 2024, more than 500 online submissions containing tick photos were received, 11 of which were identified as Hyalomma spp. ticks. In addition, we received 65 parcels containing ticks, including four Hyalomma spp. ticks (of 11 online submissions). Amplification and sequencing of the partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (cox 1) was successfully performed for all received specimens.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Hyalomma spp. ticks were recorded in different regions of Poland, and most records were from the Greater Poland and Silesia regions, in Western and Southwestern Poland, respectively. Two of the identified specimens were morphologically and molecularly characterized as Hyalomma rufipes, while another two were identified as Hyalomma marginatum.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The citizen science project enabled the confirmation of occurrence of adult Hyalomma spp. ticks in Poland, identifying a new hazard for human and animal health.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"383"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12462190/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145138424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Differential expression of antennal chemosensory genes related to host preference of Culex pipiens biotypes.","authors":"Rohan Menon, Rickard Ignell, Sharon R Hill","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-07028-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-07028-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, is a noted arboviral disease vector commonly found throughout Europe and North America. Two morphologically identical biotypes of this species, Culex pipiens pipiens and Culex pipiens molestus, display differential host preference to birds and humans, respectively; however, little is known about the genetic mechanisms regulating this behavior.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using a Y-tube olfactometer, the host preference of the host-seeking female mosquitoes of both biotypes was tested by providing a choice between synthetic chicken and human odor blends, across 2 days of testing. Antennal transcriptomes, from the mosquitoes that demonstrated a clear and consistent preference to either of the odor blends, were created to observe differences in antennal chemosensory gene expression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the host preference experiments, Cx. pipiens pipiens and Cx. pipiens molestus demonstrated a weak, but significant, preference to the synthetic chicken and human odor blends, respectively, when tested across multiple days. The transcriptome created from the antennae of mosquitoes that made a consistent choice over 2 days of testing identified 9 odorant receptors, 3 ionotropic receptors, and 12 odorant binding proteins, and other chemosensory genes, that were differentially expressed between the two biotypes, which correlate with the observed differential host preference.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study identified a set of chemosensory genes that are putatively correlated with the differential host preference of the two biotypes. Future research is required to increase the understanding of the function of the identified chemosensory receptors, and how they can be used as genetic markers of host preference of wild mosquitoes.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"372"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12459065/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145131574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land use intensity has an impact on Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato prevalence and genodiversity in ticks from Central Germany.","authors":"Suscha Nicolina Lassen, Christian Imholt, Max Müller, Nina Król, Leonard Gothe, Lara Maria Inge Heyse, Martin Pfeffer, Anna Obiegala","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-06980-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-06980-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Ticks are important vectors of zoonotic pathogens, with Ixodes ricinus being the most abundant and main vector in Europe of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis. Both vector and reservoir hosts are dependent on habitat structure, which is anthropogenically influenced by land use intensity. This study aimed to analyse the prevalence of B. burgdorferi s.l. and their genodiversity in ticks along a land use gradient in grassland and forest in Central Germany.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ticks were collected from 25 grassland and 25 forest sites by using the flagging method and tested for Borrelia  spp. using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Positive samples were further analysed by using multi-locus sequence typing to identify the exact B. burgdorferi s.l. genospecies and sequence types. To analyse the prevalence of Borrelia and the density of I. ricinus, confidence intervals, generalized linear mixed models, linear models, generalized linear models (Tweedie distribution), model selection (delta Akaike information criterion corrected for small sample size < 2), relative abundance index and the Shannon index were used.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 210 of the 1896 ticks collected tested positive for Borrelia (11.08%). The prevalence in I. ricinus ticks was identical in females (48/156; 30.77%) and males (44/143; 30.77%) and lower in nymphs (118/1152; 10.24%). Ixodes ricinus collected from grassland were significantly more frequently infected (29.36%) than those from woodland (6.43%). A positive correlation between land use intensity and the infection rate of ticks with B. burgdorferi s.l. was found in both grassland and woodland. Furthermore, the relative abundance index of predatory and small mammals had a positive effect on Borrelia spp. prevalence in I. ricinus nymphs. Multilocus sequence typing was performed for 184 samples. The most frequently found genospecies was Borrelia afzelii (65.76%), followed by Borrelia garinii (17.93%), Borrelia valaisiana (13.59%), and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (2.72%). Furthermore, 59 known and 41 new sequence types were detected.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. genotypes with zoonotic potential show variable host adaptation, which seems to promote high intraspecific pathogen diversity. The results of our study support the dilution hypothesis as they show that conserving native forests and species diversity may support the biodiversity of Borrelia spp. while reducing their overall prevalence.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"371"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12449800/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145092267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of tick age and land-use on Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in Ixodes ricinus ticks from the Swabian Alb, Germany.","authors":"Sara Weilage, Lidia Chitimia-Dobler, Max Müller, Martin Pfeffer, Anna Obiegala","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-06971-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-06971-0","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background: &lt;/strong&gt;In Europe, Ixodes ricinus ticks transmit various zoonotic pathogens, including Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis (LB). However, the relationship between Borrelia prevalence, bacterial load in unfed nymphs of different physiological ages, and the influence of season and land-use remains poorly understood. The B. burgdorferi s.l. complex exhibits significant genetic diversity, with genospecies varying in distribution and pathogenicity. This study aimed to examine physiological tick age in relation to land-use, Borrelia infection rates, and genetic diversity. Furthermore, small and large mammal diversity as well as environmental factors such as shrub cover and tree species richness were incorporated in the analyses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods: &lt;/strong&gt;Ticks were collected using the flagging method on 25 experimental plots in the Biodiversity Exploratory Swabian Alb in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, during spring, summer, and autumn of 2023, as well as spring 2024. This was followed by morphometric age measurement of the nymphs as well as by molecular biological analyses for Borrelia spp. and subsequent multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to detect Borrelia genospecies. Generalized linear models (GLM), and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were implemented to assess the effects of season and land-use on Borrelia prevalence and tick age and their reciprocal interactions as well as on effects of small and large mammal diversity on Borrelia diversity. Proportional odds logistic regression evaluated the impact of environmental factors on morphometric tick age. Model averaging was specifically applied to Borrelia genospecies to address uncertainty and refine coefficient estimates.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results: &lt;/strong&gt;A total of 1,816 Ixodes spp. ticks were collected [63 females (3.5%), 48 males (2.6%), 1,439 nymphs (79.2%), 266 larvae (14.7%)]. The nymphs examined varied in the age groups, with age group II (young) for 1.0%, age group IV (old) accounting for 7.6% and age group III (middle-aged) for 91.4%. The overall Borrelia prevalence was 6.5%, but it varied among the developmental stages. The GLMM revealed that Borrelia prevalence in age-measured nymphs differed significantly between seasons, with the highest prevalence in autumn (11.9%; confidence intervals, CI 7.83-17.52) compared with spring (P = 0.0177) and summer (P = 0.0478). MLST analyses revealed five different genospecies: B. garinii, B. afzelii, B. valaisiana, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto and B. lusitaniae. For 44 samples, sequence type (ST) assignment was possible, revealing 34 different STs, all of which except for 12 have not been detected previously. Further analyses using a conditional averaged generalized linear regression model revealed a significant increase in the diversity of Borrelia genospecies with higher Shannon diversity indices of large mammals (P = 0.00824).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions: &lt;/strong&gt;Our study rev","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"370"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12445037/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145081232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Ecological drivers of malaria vector habitat and transmission over 1 year of long-lasting insecticidal net intervention in Côte d'Ivoire.","authors":"Benoit Talbot, Ludovic P Ahoua Alou, Alphonsine A Koffi, Colette Sih, Edouard Dangbenon, Marius G Zoh, Soromane Camara, Serge B Assi, Raphael N'Guessan, Louisa A Messenger, Natacha Protopopoff, Jackie Cook, Manisha A Kulkarni","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-07023-3","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13071-025-07023-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"369"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12424208/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145033835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting current habitat suitability for intermediate snail hosts of urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis in the Lower Shire Valley floodplain of southern Malawi.","authors":"Clinton Nkolokosa, James Chirombo, Christopher M Jones, Rex B Mbewe, Eggrey Aisha Kambewa, Peter Makaula, Julie-Anne Akiko Tangena, J Russell Stothard","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-06952-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-06952-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Relating the geographical distribution of intermediate freshwater snail hosts (viz. vectors of schistosomes) to local environmental attributes offers value for understanding the epidemiological landscape of schistosomiasis transmission in a changing aquatic environment. Schistosomiasis-both urogenital and intestinal-causes significant human suffering, affecting approximately 240 million people globally and grouped within the neglected tropical disease (NTD) umbrella. This study addresses the following questions: 1. Where are the most suitable habitats for intermediate host snails in the Lower Shire Valley (LSV) in Malawi? 2. Which environmental factors are strongly associated with the geographical distribution of such snails in the LSV?</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This paper presents the first species distribution models (SDMs) for intermediate snail hosts for urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis in Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts, which together form the LSV). The SDMs developed for this study are ensemble machine learning approaches based on Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and multilayer perceptron (MLP) and are specific to the Bulinus africanus group and Biomphalaria pfeifferi. The former transmits urogenital schistosomiasis (Schistosoma haematobium), while the latter transmits intestinal schistosomiasis (Schistosoma mansoni).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The SDMs reveal the following: 1) currently, Bu. africanus group not only has a wide distribution across central Chikwawa and eastern Nsanje but is also concentrated in floodplains, and the LSV has few habitats that can support Bi. pfeifferi, and 2) vegetation cover is the most important predictor of Bu. africanus group distribution, whereas precipitation variables are most important for Bi. pfeifferi in the LSV. Thus, Bu. africanus group habitat is the most dominant and abundant, while Bi. pfeifferi suitable habitat is patchy and scarce.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The distribution of suitable habitats for potential urogenital and intestinal schistosomiasis transmission across LSV is not uniform and typically non-overlapping. Understanding the spatial and temporal distributions of these snails is important for controlling and eliminating schistosomiasis.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"368"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12395679/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144964123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PGIP: a web server for the rapid taxonomic identification of parasite genomes.","authors":"Jiayao Zhang, Feng Tang, Bixian Ni, Qiang Zhang, Xinyi Gong, Fanzhen Mao, Jun Cao, Yaobao Liu","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-07007-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-07007-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Parasitic diseases remain a global health challenge, and traditional methods in their diagnosis face limitations in sensitivity and scalability. Genome-based sequencing technologies have improved and are increasingly employed for the identification of parasites; however, their clinical adoption remains hindered by the complexity of bioinformatics analysis, reliance on incomplete reference databases, and accessibility barriers for nonspecialists. Overcoming these challenges necessitates the development of standardized analytical workflows and high-quality genomic resources specifically tailored for parasite identification.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We developed a user-friendly web server named the Parasite Genome Identification Platform (PGIP). The reference database was sourced from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), WormBase, European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), and VEuPathDB, rigorously filtered for quality, and deduplicated using Cluster Database at High Identity with Tolerance (CD-HIT) to ensure accuracy and nonredundancy. To streamline analysis, we integrated a standardized identification pipeline built on Nextflow, which encompasses host DNA depletion, quality control, parasite species identification via both reads mapping and assembly-based approaches, and automated report generation for comprehensive diagnostic insights.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>PGIP integrates a curated database of 280 parasite genomes; which is rigorously filtered for quality and taxonomic accuracy. Validation across diverse datasets demonstrated the precise species-level resolution of PGIP, and its compatibility with clinical samples. The platform features an intuitive graphic interface; and one-click analysis significantly reduces reliance on bioinformatics expertise, thus enabling rapid diagnosis.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>PGIP offers an accurate, efficient, and a user-friendly web server designed to simplify and accelerate the taxonomic identification of parasite genomes using data from metagenomic next-generation sequencing. Its automated framework reduces the need for specialized expertise, enabling rapid application in clinical and public health settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"365"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12392538/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144964099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction: Combining blood meal analysis and parasite detection yields a more comprehensive understanding of insect host feeding patterns.","authors":"Anna Kapustová, Magdaléna Kulich Fialová, Milena Svobodová, Jana Brzoňová","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-07005-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-07005-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"367"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12395634/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144964206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From mitochondrial DNA arrangement to repair: a kinetoplast-associated protein with different roles in two trypanosomatid species.","authors":"Camila Silva Gonçalves, Carolina Moura Costa Catta-Preta, Bruno Marçal Repolês, Wesley Roger Rodrigues Ferreira, Flavia Souza Morini, Jeremy C Mottram, Danielle Pereira Cavalcanti, Wanderley de Souza, Stenio Perdigão Fragoso, Carlos Renato Machado, Maria Cristina M Motta","doi":"10.1186/s13071-025-06985-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-025-06985-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>One of the most intriguing and unusual features of trypanosomatids is their mitochondrial DNA, known as kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), which is organized into a network of concatenated circles. The kDNA is contained within the mitochondrial matrix and can exhibit distinct arrangements across different species and during cell differentiation. In addition to kDNA, the kinetoplast contains multiple proteins, including those involved in mitochondrial DNA topology and metabolism, such as the kinetoplast-associated proteins (KAPs). In this work, we obtained mutant cells to investigates the role of KAP7 in two trypanosomatid species, Trypanosoma cruzi and Angomonas deanei, which have distinct kinetoplast shapes and kDNA arrangements.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>For this purpose, the kDNA replication process and cell morphology and ultrastructure were evaluated using microscopy methods. Furthermore, the proliferation of cells treated with genotoxic agents, such as cisplatin and ultraviolet radiation, was analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In A. deanei, which contains a symbiotic bacterium, KAP7 seems to be essential, since the deletion of one KAP7 allele generated mutants with a decay in cell proliferation, as well as changes in kDNA structure and replication. In T. cruzi, null mutants exhibited disturbances in kDNA replication, although the overall topology remained unaltered. The use of cisplatin and ultraviolet (UV) radiation affected the ultrastructure of A. deanei and T. cruzi. Cisplatin promoted increased kDNA compaction in both KAP7 mutants, but only in T. cruzi did the proliferative capacity fail to recover after treatment, as was also observed following UV radiation exposure.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Proteins associated with DNA are evolutionarily conserved and usually perform similar functions in different organisms. Our findings reveal that KAP7 is involved in kDNA replication, but its roles differ in trypanosomatid species: in A. deanei, KAP7 is associated with kDNA arrangement, while in T. cruzi, it is related to mitochondrial metabolism, such as kDNA replication and damage response.</p>","PeriodicalId":19793,"journal":{"name":"Parasites & Vectors","volume":"18 1","pages":"366"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12395728/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144963767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}