Publications
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Host-parasite interactions in trypanosomiasis: on the way to an antidisease strategy Institute of Tropical Medicine
A three-way perspective of stoichiometric changes on host–parasite interactions KU Leuven
Changes in environmental nutrients play a crucial role in driving disease dynamics, but global patterns in nutrient-driven changes in disease are difficult to predict. In this paper we use ecological stoichiometry as a framework to review host–parasite interactions under changing nutrient ratios, focusing on three pathways: (i) altered host resistance and parasite virulence through host stoichiometry (ii) changed encounter or contact rates at ...
Advances in the Immunology of the Host–Parasite Interactions in African Trypanosomosis, including Single-Cell Transcriptomics Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Trypanosomes are single-celled extracellular parasites that infect mammals, including humans and livestock, causing global public health concerns and economic losses. These parasites cycle between insect vectors, such as tsetse flies and vertebrate hosts, undergoing morphological, cellular, and biochemical changes. They have remarkable immune evasion mechanisms to escape the host’s innate and adaptive immune responses, such as surface coat ...
The secretome of filarial nematodes and its role in host-parasite interactions and pathogenicity in onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy University of Antwerp
Filarial nematodes secrete bioactive molecules which are of interest as potential mediators for manipulating host biology, as they are readily available at the host-parasite interface. The adult parasites can survive for years in the mammalian host, due to their successful modulation of the host immune system and most of these immunomodulatory strategies are based on soluble mediators excreted by the parasite. The secretome of filarial nematodes ...
Assessing the effects of climate on host-parasite interactions University of Antwerp
Background Climate change potentially has important effects on distribution, abundance, transmission and virulence of parasites in wild populations of animals. Methodology/Principal Finding Here we analyzed paired information on 89 parasite populations for 24 species of bird hosts some years ago and again in 2010 with an average interval of 10 years. The parasite taxa included protozoa, feather parasites, diptera, ticks, mites and fleas. We ...
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus: opportunities in comparative genomics and molecular host-parasite interactions Ghent University
Explosive networking: The role of adaptive host radiations and ecological opportunity in a species-rich host-parasite assembly KU Leuven
Many species-rich ecological communities emerge from adaptive radiation events. Yet the effects of adaptive radiation on community assembly remain poorly understood. Here, we explore the well-documented radiations of African cichlid fishes and their interactions with the flatworm gill parasites Cichlidogyrus spp., including 10,529 reported infections and 477 different host-parasite combinations collected through a survey of peer-reviewed ...
Damped long-term host–parasite Red Queen coevolutionary dynamics: a reflection of dilution effects ? KU Leuven Ghent University
An increase in biological diversity leads to a greater stability of ecosystem properties. For host-parasite interactions, this is illustrated by the ‘dilution effect’: a negative correlation between host biodiversity and disease risk. We show that a similar mechanism might stabilize host-parasite dynamics at a lower level of diversity, i.e. at the level of genetic diversity within host species. A long-term time shift experiment, based on a ...
Herbicides in the environment alter infection dynamics in a microbial host-parasite system KU Leuven
Parasites play an important role in the regulation of host population growth. How these ubiquitous stressors interact with anthropogenic stressors is less often studied. In a full factorial experiment we explored the independent and combined effects of the widely used herbicide diuron and a chytrid parasite on the fitness of genetically different monoclonal diatom populations. Furthermore we evaluated how herbicide exposure influenced infection ...