Parasite evolution articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Marine Alveolates (MALVs) include important parasites of other protists/animals. Here, using new data from MALV-I, the psammosids, and a new group called the eleftherids, the authors show MALVs, and therefore parasitism in early dinoflagellates, evolved from two distinct free-living ancestors.

    • Corey C. Holt
    • , Elisabeth Hehenberger
    •  & Patrick J. Keeling

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Authors utilize a number of models (mathematical, in vitro and in vivo infection) to analyse pre-clinical and Phase I clinical trial data, in regard to potential risk of resistance associated with a Plasmodium falciparum inhibitor, cabamiquine.

    • Eva Stadler
    • , Mohamed Maiga
    •  & Thomas Spangenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Toxoplasma gondii can infect all warm-blooded animals, with felidae being the definitive hosts. Despite this broad host range, most clinical and animal isolates belong to few clonal lineages. Here, Galal et al. perform whole-genome sequencing of isolates from distinct geographical regions and estimate T. gondii mutation rate and generation time. They find that recent waves of migration disseminated the parasite from Old to New World and identify a unique haplotype that likely accompanied the global expansion of cats and is today common to all intercontinental lineages and hybrid populations.

    • Lokman Galal
    • , Frédéric Ariey
    •  & Aurélien Mercier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The whipworm Trichuris trichiura is a soil-transmitted helminth that causes the neglected tropical disease trichuriasis in humans. Here, the authors produce whole genome sequences of modern and ancient samples from humans and non-human primates to characterise the genomic diversity and evolution of this pathogen.

    • Stephen R. Doyle
    • , Martin Jensen Søe
    •  & Christian Moliin Outzen Kapel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmodium malariae is a cause of malaria in humans and related species have been identified in non-human primates. Here, the authors use genomic analyses to establish that human P. malariae arose from a host switch of an ape parasite whilst a species infecting New World monkeys can be traced to a reverse zoonosis.

    • Lindsey J. Plenderleith
    • , Weimin Liu
    •  & Paul M. Sharp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dating early bacterial evolution is challenging due to the limited bacterial fossil record. Here Wang and Luo use the close evolutionary relationship between Alphaproteobacteria and mitochondria to leverage the eukaryotic fossil record in dating Alphaproteobacteria origin and diversification.

    • Sishuo Wang
    •  & Haiwei Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    By greatly expanding the number of assembled genomes for Wolbachia (a group of intracellular bacteria) and constructing robust phylogenies, this study finds strong rate heterogeneity among Wolbachiapopulations and no support for synchronous divergence between Wolbachia and host mitochondria.

    • Matthias Scholz
    • , Davide Albanese
    •  & Omar Rota-Stabelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Based on single worm whole genome sequencing, the authors here characterise the global evolution of the gastrointestinal parasite Haemonchus contortus and identify genes that play a role in drug resistance as well as climate-driven adaptations involving an epigenetic regulator.

    • G. Sallé
    • , S. R. Doyle
    •  & J. A. Cotton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, Proto et al. show that human infective Plasmodium falciparum isolates contain an inactivating mutation in the erythrocyte invasion associated gene PfEBA165, while homologues of ape-infective Laverania species are intact, and that expression of intact PfEBA165 is incompatible with parasite growth in human erythrocytes.

    • William R. Proto
    • , Sasha V. Siegel
    •  & Julian C. Rayner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of within-host malaria virulence has been studied, but the vector’s contribution isn’t well understood. Here, Costa et al. show that non-competitive parasitic resource exploitation within-vector, in particular lipid trafficking, restricts within-host infectivity and virulence of the parasite.

    • G. Costa
    • , M. Gildenhard
    •  & E. A. Levashina

  • Article
    | Open Access

    African apes harbour six Plasmodium species, one of which gave rise to the human malaria parasite. Here, Sundaraman et al. use selective whole-genome amplification to determine genome sequences from two chimpanzee Plasmodiumspecies, shedding light on the evolutionary origin of the human parasite.

    • Sesh A. Sundararaman
    • , Lindsey J. Plenderleith
    •  & Beatrice H. Hahn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Trichinellosis is a globally important food-borne disease caused by roundworms of the Trichinella complex. Here the authors present genomic sequences representing all 12 recognized Trichinellaspecies and genotypes, and reconstruct their phylogeny and biogeography.

    • Pasi K. Korhonen
    • , Edoardo Pozio
    •  & Robin B. Gasser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antigens encoded by var genes are major virulence factors of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Here, Larremore et al. identify var-like genes in distantly related Plasmodiumspecies infecting African apes, indicating that these genes already existed in an ancestral ape parasite many millions of years ago.

    • Daniel B. Larremore
    • , Sesh A. Sundararaman
    •  & Caroline O. Buckee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmodium falciparum, known to cause malaria in humans, evolved from parasites of African Great Apes. Here, the authors compare the genome of the human parasite, P. falciparum, with those of two related chimpanzee parasites, P. reichenowi and P. gaboni, and provide insight into the genetic basis of P. falciparumadaptation to human hosts.

    • Thomas D. Otto
    • , Julian C. Rayner
    •  & Matthew Berriman

  • Article |

    Plasmodium vivax, the leading cause of human malaria in Asia and Latin America, is thought to have an Asian origin. Here, the authors show that wild chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa are infected with parasites that are closely related to P. vivax, indicating an African origin for this species.

    • Weimin Liu
    • , Yingying Li
    •  & Paul M. Sharp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent work has shown that the transmission of malaria from mosquito to human is inefficient. In this study, an analysis of published literature is used to understand this inefficiency, which is likely due to heterogeneous biting, where 20% of people receive 80% of the bites.

    • David L. Smith
    • , Chris J. Drakeley
    •  & Simon I. Hay

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