The Complexity of Parasites in Animals: Impacts, Innovation, and Interventions

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

The complexity of animal parasites presents a significant challenge across various ecosystems regarding the health, productivity, and biodiversity of wildlife, livestock, and companion animals. This Topic seeks to explore the multifaceted impact of parasites on the exploration of innovative approaches to monitoring, intervention, and control. Other important topics include emerging new parasites, environmental issues related to climatic change, changes in the dynamics of the relationship between parasites and their host, and genomics developments that further enhance our understanding of parasitic organisms. It will also consider the impact of domestic and agricultural practices on parasites, trends in resistance to antimicrobial treatment, and the development of novel therapeutics and vaccines. Furthermore, the emphasis will be on a One Health perspective in which human, animal, and environmental health issues are considered to be interdependent in order to meet these global challenges. Specifically, this Topic intends to include original research and reviews that provide an overview of the field and management/strategies for the control of animal parasites.

Dr. Kun Li
Prof. Dr. Rongjun Wang
Dr. Ningbo Xia
Dr. Md. F. Kulyar
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Animals animals	2.7	4.9	2011	16.1 Days	CHF 2400	Submit
Dairy dairy	-	4.4	2020	27.8 Days	CHF 1200	Submit
Microorganisms microorganisms	4.1	7.4	2013	11.7 Days	CHF 2700	Submit
Veterinary Sciences vetsci	2.0	2.9	2014	21.2 Days	CHF 2100	Submit
Metabolites metabolites	3.5	5.7	2011	16.1 Days	CHF 2700	Submit
Life life	3.2	4.3	2011	17.8 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Parasitologia parasitologia	-	1.7	2021	19.2 Days	CHF 1000	Submit

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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All Animals Dairy Microorganisms Veterinary Sciences Metabolites Life Parasitologia

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12 pages, 8383 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Prevalence and Molecular Characterization of Parasitic Lice in Tibetan Yaks, Pigs and Sheep

by Wanmei Luo, Xialing Zhao, Dengyun Wang, Bin Shi, Shah Nawaz, Qingxia Wu and Wenqiang Tang

Life 2025, 15(3), 444; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15030444 - 12 Mar 2025

Viewed by 407

Abstract

The infestation of ectoparasites poses a severe problem in animal breeding, severely affecting animal health and causing substantial economic losses. However, limited information is available regarding lice infestations in plateau livestock. To address this, we collected and examined lice samples from Tibetan yaks, [...] Read more.

The infestation of ectoparasites poses a severe problem in animal breeding, severely affecting animal health and causing substantial economic losses. However, limited information is available regarding lice infestations in plateau livestock. To address this, we collected and examined lice samples from Tibetan yaks, pigs and sheep, amplifying the rrnS and cox1 genes for evolutionary analysis. The results revealed that the prevalence of lice was 51.3% (95% CI: 44.0–58.6%) in yaks, Tibetan sheep and Tibetan pigs, with regional prevalence ranging from 7.7% to 67.5%. Morphometric analysis showed that female lice were bigger than male lice. In Tibetan pigs, females exhibited a prominent longer body length (p < 0.05), belly length (p < 0.01) and body length to body width ratio (p < 0.05). In yaks, females had longer body length (p < 0.01) and body width (p < 0.05). For Tibetan sheep, female lice had larger body length (p < 0.001), body width (p < 0.001), head length (p < 0.05) and belly length (p < 0.05). Additionally, molecular identification revealed that lice infesting wild and domestic yaks were Linognathus vituli with 96.59–98.78% (wild yaks) and 96.33–98.71% (yaks) similarity to the OL677823.1 isolate. Lice infesting Tibetan sheep were identified as Linognathus africanus, showing 99.02–99.76% similarity to the OP948898.1 isolate. Lice from Tibetan pigs were identified as Haematopinus apri, with 96.38–98.31% similarity to the ON000922.1 isolate. Moreover, cox1 gene analysis of lice from Tibetan pigs showed 96.97–97.72% similarity to the KC814616.1 isolate. It is concluded that these findings could provide valuable insights into the prevention and control of lice-related diseases in plateau animals, enhancing animal health and mitigating economic losses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic The Complexity of Parasites in Animals: Impacts, Innovation, and Interventions)

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20 pages, 6032 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

Developmental Proteomics Reveals the Dynamic Expression Profile of Global Proteins of Haemaphysalis longicornis (Parthenogenesis)

by Min-Xuan Liu, Xiao-Pei Xu, Fan-Ming Meng, Bing Zhang, Wei-Gang Li, Yuan-Yuan Zhang, Qiao-Ying Zen and Wen-Ge Liu

Life 2025, 15(1), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/life15010059 - 6 Jan 2025

Viewed by 757

Abstract

H. longicornis is used as an experimental animal model for the study of three-host ticks due to its special life cycle and easy maintenance in the laboratory and in its reproduction. The life cycle of H. longicornis goes through a tightly regulated life [...] Read more.

H. longicornis is used as an experimental animal model for the study of three-host ticks due to its special life cycle and easy maintenance in the laboratory and in its reproduction. The life cycle of H. longicornis goes through a tightly regulated life cycle to adapt to the changing host and environment, and these stages of transition are also accompanied by proteome changes in the body. Here, we used the isobaric tags for a relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technique to systematically describe and analyze the dynamic expression of the protein and the molecular basis of the proteome of H. longicornis in seven differential developmental stages (eggs, unfed larvae, engorged larvae, unfed nymphs, engorged nymphs unfed adults, and engorged adults). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis of the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were used. In our study, A total of 2044 proteins were identified, and their expression profiles were classified at different developmental stages. In addition, it was found that tissue and organ development-related proteins and metabolism-related proteins were involved in different physiological processes throughout the life cycle through the GO and KEGG analysis of DEPs. More importantly, we found that the up-regulated proteins of engorged adult ticks were mainly related to yolk absorption, degradation, and ovarian development-related proteins. The abundance of the cuticle proteins in the unfed stages was significantly higher compared with those of the engorged ticks in the previous stages. We believe that our study has made a significant contribution to the research on H. longicornis, which is an important vector of SFTSV. In this study, we identified changes in the proteome throughout the H. longicornis development, and functional analysis highlighted the important roles of many key proteins in developmental events (ovarian development, the molting process, the development of midgut, the development and degeneration of salivary glands, etc.). The revelation of this data will provide a reference proteome for future research on tick functional proteins and candidate targets for elucidating H. longicornis development and developing new tick control strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic The Complexity of Parasites in Animals: Impacts, Innovation, and Interventions)

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13 pages, 5793 KiB  

Open AccessArticle

IL-36 Gamma: A Novel Adjuvant Cytokine Enhancing Protective Immunity Induced by DNA Immunization with TGIST and TGNSM Against Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Mice

by Ying Tan, Jingqi Mu and Jia Chen

Microorganisms 2024, 12(11), 2258; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12112258 - 7 Nov 2024

Viewed by 1078

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasma gondii can cause congenital infections and abortions in humans. TgIST and TgNSM play critical roles in intracellular cyst formation and chronic infection. However, no studies have explored their potential to induce protective immunity against T. gondii infection. Objective: To evaluate the [...] Read more.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii can cause congenital infections and abortions in humans. TgIST and TgNSM play critical roles in intracellular cyst formation and chronic infection. However, no studies have explored their potential to induce protective immunity against T. gondii infection. Objective: To evaluate the immune efficacy of DNA vaccines encoding TgNSM and TgIST genes against T. gondii infection, using the acute and chronic ME49 strain (Type II). Methods: DNA vaccines, including eukaryotic plasmids pVAX-IST and pVAX-NSM, were constructed. A cocktail DNA vaccine combining these two genes was formulated. The expression and immunogenicity were determined using the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Mice were immunized with DNA vaccines encoding either TgIST or TgNSM, as well as with the cocktail DNA vaccine. Humoral and cellular immune responses were analyzed by detecting antibody levels, cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses, cytokines, and lymphocyte surface markers. Mouse survival and brain cyst counts were assessed 1 to 2 months post-vaccination in experimental toxoplasmosis models. The adjuvant efficacy of plasmid pVAX-IL-36γ in enhancing DNA vaccine-induced protective immunity was also evaluated. Results: DNA immunization with pVAX-IST and pVAX-NSM elicited strong humoral and cellular immune responses, characterized by increased Toxoplasma-specific IgG2a titers, Th1 responses (including production of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12p40, and IL-12p70), and cell-mediated activity with elevated frequencies of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, and CTL responses. This provided significant protective efficacy against acute and chronic T. gondii infection. Mice immunized with the two-gene cocktail (pVAX-IST + pVAX-NSM) showed greater protection than those immunized with single-gene vaccines. Co-administration of the molecular adjuvant pVAX-IL-36γ further enhanced the protective immunity induced by the cocktail DNA vaccine. Conclusions: TgIST and TgNSM induce effective immunity against T. gondii infection, making them promising vaccine candidates against toxoplasmosis. Additionally, IL-36γ is a promising genetic adjuvant that enhances protective immunity in a vaccine setting against T. gondii, and it should be evaluated in strategies against other apicomplexan parasites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic The Complexity of Parasites in Animals: Impacts, Innovation, and Interventions)

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