Dopp Joana, de Bekker Charissa
Microbiology, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
NPJ Biol Timing Sleep. 2025;2(1):29. doi: 10.1038/s44323-025-00046-0. Epub 2025 Aug 1.
Both parasite manipulation of host behavior and the roles of circadian clocks in infectious disease are not well understood. However, studies into parasite-manipulated insects suggest that host rhythms are altered at different levels of biological organization. Here, we discuss this hypothesis in the context of circadian plasticity. We argue that striking overlap between manipulation mechanisms and plastic functioning of the insect clock exists across independently evolved parasite-host systems. As such, investigating parasitic behavioral manipulation provides an opportunity to better understand circadian plasticity and how infection and clocks intersect across taxa.
寄生虫对宿主行为的操控以及生物钟在传染病中的作用都尚未得到充分理解。然而，对受寄生虫操控的昆虫的研究表明，宿主节律在生物组织的不同层面上发生了改变。在此，我们在昼夜节律可塑性的背景下讨论这一假说。我们认为，在独立进化的寄生虫 - 宿主系统中，操控机制与昆虫生物钟的可塑性功能之间存在显著重叠。因此，研究寄生虫的行为操控为更好地理解昼夜节律可塑性以及感染与生物钟在不同分类群中的相互作用提供了一个契机。
