School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK.
Laboratory of Molecular and Evolutionary Parasitology, RAPID group, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
Trends Parasitol. 2019 Sep;35(9):687-694. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2019.06.013. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
Gregarine apicomplexans are closely related to parasites such as Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, and Cryptosporidium, which are causing severe health and economic burdens. Colonizing only invertebrates and having no obvious medical relevance, they are mostly ignored in 'omics' studies, although gregarines are the most basal apicomplexans and therefore key players in the understanding of the evolution of parasitism in the Apicomplexa from free-living ancestors. They belong to the largest exclusively parasitic phylum, but is this perception actually true? The effects of gregarines on their hosts seem to cover the whole spectrum of symbiosis from mutualistic to parasitic. We suggest future research directions to understand the evolutionary role of gregarines, by elucidating their biology and interaction with their hosts and the hosts' microbiota.
格利雅虫是原生动物顶复门的一纲，与疟原虫、刚地弓形虫和隐孢子虫等寄生虫密切相关，这些寄生虫给人类健康和经济带来了严重负担。格利雅虫仅寄生于无脊椎动物，与医学相关性不大，因此在“组学”研究中大多被忽视，尽管它们是最原始的顶复门生物，是理解顶复门寄生虫从自由生活祖先进化而来的关键因素。它们属于最大的专性寄生门，但是这种看法真的正确吗？格利雅虫对其宿主的影响似乎涵盖了从互利共生到寄生的整个共生谱。我们建议未来的研究方向，通过阐明其生物学及其与宿主和宿主微生物组的相互作用，来理解格利雅虫的进化作用。
