Daniel Sojka
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View article: Ultrastructural changes in the midgut of Ixodes ricinus nymphs across feeding and digestion stages
Ultrastructural changes in the midgut of Ixodes ricinus nymphs across feeding and digestion stages Open
Ticks rely on host blood as their primary source of nutrients and energy. In hard ticks (Ixodidae), a single blood meal per life stage supports survival, metamorphosis, and, in females, egg production. The midgut, the major metabolic organ…
View article: Evaluating Antimalarial Proteasome Inhibitors for Efficacy in <i>Babesia</i> Blood Stage Cultures
Evaluating Antimalarial Proteasome Inhibitors for Efficacy in <i>Babesia</i> Blood Stage Cultures Open
Tick-transmitted Babesia are a major global veterinary threat and an emerging risk to humans. Unlike their Plasmodium relatives, these erythrocyte-infecting Apicomplexa have been largely overlooked and lack specific treatment. Selective ta…
View article: Chelation of Mitochondrial Iron as an Antiparasitic Strategy
Chelation of Mitochondrial Iron as an Antiparasitic Strategy Open
Iron, as an essential micronutrient, plays a crucial role in host-pathogen interactions. In order to limit the growth of the pathogen, a common strategy of innate immunity includes withdrawing available iron to interfere with the cellular …
View article: Establishment of a stable transfection and gene targeting system in Babesia divergens
Establishment of a stable transfection and gene targeting system in Babesia divergens Open
Babesia divergens is an emerging tick-borne pathogen considered as the principal causative agent of bovine babesiosis in Europe with a notable zoonotic risk to human health. Despite its increasing impact, considerable gaps persist in our u…
View article: Insight Into the Dynamics of the Ixodes ricinus Nymphal Midgut Proteome
Insight Into the Dynamics of the Ixodes ricinus Nymphal Midgut Proteome Open
Ticks are ectoparasites that feed on blood and have an impressive ability to consume and process enormous amounts of host blood, allowing extremely long periods of starvation between blood meals. The central role in the parasitic lifestyle…
View article: Babesia, Theileria, Plasmodium and Hemoglobin
Babesia, Theileria, Plasmodium and Hemoglobin Open
The Propagation of Plasmodium spp. and Babesia/Theileria spp. vertebrate blood stages relies on the mediated acquisition of nutrients available within the host’s red blood cell (RBC). The cellular processes of uptake, trafficking and metab…
View article: Integrative assessment of the transcriptome and virome of the poultry red mite <i>Dermanyssus gallinae</i>
Integrative assessment of the transcriptome and virome of the poultry red mite <i>Dermanyssus gallinae</i> Open
Dermanyssus gallinae is a blood-feeding mite that parasitises on wild birds and farmed poultry. The D. gallinae mite has a short life cycle of fewer than two weeks from the egg to an egg-laying female. The remarkably swift processing of bl…
View article: Plasmepsin-like Aspartyl Proteases in Babesia
Plasmepsin-like Aspartyl Proteases in Babesia Open
Apicomplexan genomes encode multiple pepsin-family aspartyl proteases (APs) that phylogenetically cluster to six independent clades (A to F). Such diversification has been powered by the function-driven evolution of the ancestral apicomple…
View article: Haem-responsive gene transporter enables mobilization of host haem in ticks
Haem-responsive gene transporter enables mobilization of host haem in ticks Open
Ticks, notorious blood-feeders and disease-vectors, have lost a part of their genetic complement encoding haem biosynthetic enzymes and are, therefore, dependent on the acquisition and distribution of host haem. Solute carrier protein SLC4…
View article: Protease Inhibition—An Established Strategy to Combat Infectious Diseases
Protease Inhibition—An Established Strategy to Combat Infectious Diseases Open
Therapeutic agents with novel mechanisms of action are urgently needed to counter the emergence of drug-resistant infections. Several decades of research into proteases of disease agents have revealed enzymes well suited for target-based d…
View article: Mialostatin, a Novel Midgut Cystatin from Ixodes ricinus Ticks: Crystal Structure and Regulation of Host Blood Digestion
Mialostatin, a Novel Midgut Cystatin from Ixodes ricinus Ticks: Crystal Structure and Regulation of Host Blood Digestion Open
The hard tick Ixodes ricinus is a vector of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis. Host blood protein digestion, essential for tick development and reproduction, occurs in tick midgut digestive cells driven by cathepsin proteases. Littl…
View article: Comparison of the hemolysis machinery in two evolutionarily distant blood-feeding arthropod vectors of human diseases
Comparison of the hemolysis machinery in two evolutionarily distant blood-feeding arthropod vectors of human diseases Open
Host blood protein digestion plays a pivotal role in the ontogeny and reproduction of hematophagous vectors. The gut of hematophagous arthropods stores and slowly digests host blood and represents the primary gateway for transmitted pathog…
View article: Design, synthesis, and <i>in vitro</i> evaluation of aza-peptide aldehydes and ketones as novel and selective protease inhibitors
Design, synthesis, and <i>in vitro</i> evaluation of aza-peptide aldehydes and ketones as novel and selective protease inhibitors Open
Aza-peptide aldehydes and ketones are a new class of reversible protease inhibitors that are specific for the proteasome and clan CD cysteine proteases. We designed and synthesised aza-Leu derivatives that were specific for the chymotrypsi…
View article: Validation of Babesia proteasome as a drug target
Validation of Babesia proteasome as a drug target Open
Babesiosis is a tick-transmitted zoonosis caused by apicomplexan parasites of the genus Babesia. Treatment of this emerging malaria-related disease has relied on antimalarial drugs and antibiotics. The proteasome of Plasmodium, the causati…
View article: The Complexity of Piroplasms Life Cycles
The Complexity of Piroplasms Life Cycles Open
Although apicomplexan parasites of the group Piroplasmida represent commonly identified global risks to both animals and humans, detailed knowledge of their life cycles is surprisingly limited. Such a discrepancy results from incomplete li…
View article: Acquisition of exogenous haem is essential for tick reproduction
Acquisition of exogenous haem is essential for tick reproduction Open
Haem and iron homeostasis in most eukaryotic cells is based on a balanced flux between haem biosynthesis and haem oxygenase-mediated degradation. Unlike most eukaryotes, ticks possess an incomplete haem biosynthetic pathway and, together w…
View article: Author response: Acquisition of exogenous haem is essential for tick reproduction
Author response: Acquisition of exogenous haem is essential for tick reproduction Open
Article Figures and data Abstract eLife digest Introduction Results Discussion Materials and methods References Decision letter Author response Article and author information Metrics Abstract Haem and iron homeostasis in most eukaryotic ce…