Host switching is the main driver of coevolution between Hepatozoon parasites and their vertebrate hosts.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hepatozoon spp. are apicomplexan parasites with a heteroxenous life cycles, involving vertebrate intermediate hosts and invertebrate definitive hosts. These parasites infect a wide variety of wild and domestic vertebrates causing subclinical infection or mild-to-severe clinical manifestations, depending on the parasite species and vertebrate host. Interestingly, each Hepatozoon spp. have a specific host range, suggesting a close host-parasite coevolutionary relationship.

Methods

Hepatozoon sequences deposited between 2013 and 2023 were mined from GenBank to test which was the most employed marker for this parasite. We reconstructed the host and parasite phylogenies using 18S rDNA and cytB sequences, respectively. Subsequent analyses were stratified according to ho

SUBMITTER: Matamoros-Suarez R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12288290 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature