Parasites are organisms that live in or on a host organism and obtain nutrients at the host’s expense, forming a specialized ecological and evolutionary interaction characterized by dependence and often high host specificity. They encompass diverse taxa, including protozoa, helminths, arthropods, fungi, and some plants, and exhibit complex life cycles that may involve multiple hosts and vectors. Research topics on parasites address host–parasite coevolution, immune evasion strategies, transmission dynamics, virulence evolution, and the population genetics and genomics of parasite species, as well as their roles in ecosystems, disease emergence, and the modulation of host physiology and behavior.
A genus of fungi previously considered a parasite of fungi associated with ants may actually have much more complex ecological functions. According to a study published in the journal Communications Biology, one piece of ...
Evolution
Dec 8, 2025
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Researchers at LMU in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have discovered how the parasite Toxoplasma gondii builds a specialized structure that allows it to move and invade host ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 2, 2025
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With victims numbering in the millions, malaria is an infectious disease caused by the bite of a mosquito carrying the malaria parasite. After penetrating the skin, the pathogen moves with helical trajectories. It almost ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 24, 2025
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Scientists document a new form of host manipulation where an invading, parasitic ant queen "tricks" ant workers into killing their queen mother. The invading ant integrates herself into the nest by pretending to be a member ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 17, 2025
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CABI scientists, who have published their research in the journal CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, suggest that an accidentally introduced parasitoid could help save wild box trees from ecological extinction.
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2025
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A new study has unexpectedly discovered that a common parasite of modern oysters actually started infecting bivalves hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs went extinct.
Ecology
Nov 4, 2025
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160
Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals dance. They spin, jolt, ...
Bio & Medicine
Oct 29, 2025
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Rajshekhar Gaji was staring at something that should not exist. Under his microscope, parasites that should have been thriving were instead dying—completely unable to survive without a protein his lab had managed to switch ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 15, 2025
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According to estimates, about a third of the world's population is infected with the single-celled parasite Toxoplasma gondii, the pathogen of toxoplasmosis. Although harmless for most people, the infection can be dangerous ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 9, 2025
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29
A honeybee hive, with its large stores of pollen, wax, and honey, is like a fortress guarding treasure: with strong defenses, but a bonanza for enemies that can overcome those. More than 30 parasites of honeybees are known, ...
Ecology
Sep 30, 2025
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