Monomeric and Oligomeric Decorsins of the Asian Medicinal Leech <i>Hirudinaria manillensis</i>.

ABSTRACT: Hematophagous leeches rely on a broad diversity of bioactive factors that interfere with the host's defense systems to secure a successful blood meal. The most prominent examples of such factors are the antithrombotics that address either the primary hemostasis (the platelet aggregation) or the secondary hemostasis (the blood coagulation). Whereas the inhibitors of platelet aggregation mainly cause continuous blood flow, coagulation inhibitors mainly keep the blood fluid within the stomach of the leech. The critical dependency of hematophagous leeches on the accurate action of all antithrombotic factors may explain the presence of multiple genes for each type of these factors that is regularly observed in leech genomes. The genome of Hirudinaria manillensis Lesson, 1842, the Asian b

SUBMITTER: Tolksdorf C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12651989 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature