Editorial: Intraspecies variability in apicomplexan parasites: epidemiology, traits and virulence

Abstract

Single cell eukaryotic obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasites are major cause of life-threatening infections in humans (Plasmodium spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium spp.) and cause significant effect on cattle and poultry industries Neospora caninum and Eimeria spp.) that leads to massive global economic loss every year. The outcome of infection and pathogenesis by apicomplexan parasites are largely dependent on the host and the parasite strain genotypes (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2020). In the current ‘omics’ era, with large datasets and new technologies frequently developed, the challenge is to combine these datasets to better understand the biological mechanisms by which parasites infect hosts and cause diseases, emphasizing the identification of key proteins that could be targeted for therapeutic or immunoprophylactic interventions. Due to the advent of the newer ‘game-changer’ methodologies, especially the CRISPR-Cas systems and the multi-omics driven approaches (whole genome sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.), identification of newer strains and genotype-phenotype correlations became easier (Seeber and Steinfelder, 2016). In this sense, recent reports have highlighted that freshly obtained isolates have different phenotypic and genotypic traits compared to reference strains (Uzelac et al., 2024). In addition, new clinical signs and histopathological changes have also been described in different hosts or animal models (Sánchez-Sánchez et al., 2019). Finally, the distribution and epidemiology of each specific parasite is of relevance to understanding their importance in geographical areas that may be associated with outbreaks or cases with particularly unexpected outcomes