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Being founded in 1999 as an active working group of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP), the Drug Design & Development Seminar (DDDS) celebrated its 26th meeting as a joint event with the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action CA21111 – ‘OneHealthDrugs’, held under the theme: Human and Animal Parasitic Diseases – Bridging the Innovation Gap. The DDDS aims to connect human and veterinary health through complementary approaches in antiparasitic chemotherapy, medical and veterinary parasitology, and medicinal chemistry, thereby fostering One Health strategies to combat parasitic diseases.

Vector-borne disease transmission is highly heterogeneous, yet existing models emphasize climate, host density, and pathogen load. We propose that host–vector microbiome similarity represents a previously unrecognized ecological axis in transmission biology. During blood feeding, vectors ingest host-derived immune effectors shaped by the host microbiota. When immune targeting depends on shared microbial features, microbiome similarity predicts the magnitude of immune-mediated disturbance within the vector gut, altering colonization resistance and influencing pathogen establishment. These effects are context-dependent and may enhance or suppress transmission. This framework generates testable predictions linking microbiome similarity, immune-mediated disturbance, and vector competence across systems. Incorporating microbiome similarity into transmission models may help explain heterogeneity and improve ecological understanding and intervention strategies.

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Babesia microti poses a significant threat to human health, underscoring the need for an improved in vitro culture system to reduce reliance on animal models and support drug and vaccine screening. Key challenges include the tropism of preferential host red blood cells (RBCs), parasite metabolic needs, culture medium formulation, and optimization of the microaerophilic environment (oxygenation).

Myzozoa, a clade of alveolate protists including Apicomplexa, Chromerida, Perkinsozoa, and dinoflagellates, possesses the most reduced mitochondrial genomes among eukaryotes. Apicomplexan parasites, such as Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium spp., retain mitochondrial genomes encoding only three proteins and highly fragmented rRNAs. Despite this reduction, recent structural studies show that T. gondii mitoribosome incorporates lineage-specific RNA-binding proteins as integral components to maintain a functional complex composed of over 50 rRNA fragments. The conservation of rRNA fragmentation and protein repertoire observed among Apicomplexa suggests a shared evolution within the phylum. This radical divergence from all other currently investigated cytoplasmic and mitochondrial ribosomes highlights evolutionary plasticity and common ancestry, providing a model for studying mitochondrial evolution and potential antiparasitic drug discovery.

Parasites spread through shared environments, so observations from hosts sampled in the same environment are rarely independent. Ignoring shared environmental effects can lead to an underestimation of study outcome uncertainty and the potential to draw incorrect conclusions. Intraclass correlation coefficients help address this issue by quantifying cluster-level effects and adjusting sample sizes.

Tennessen et al.’s study addresses longstanding knowledge gaps regarding the evolutionary drivers of a major Neotropical malaria vector, Anopheles darlingi. Through extensive whole-genome analysis, they revealed geographically structured An. darlingi populations with no evidence of sympatric species and strong signals of widespread insecticide resistance through convergent evolution.

Mosquitoes transmit a wide range of viruses and malaria parasites, posing a significant threat to global public health. Among recent advances in genetic pest control, gene drives have emerged as a powerful tool. Through super-Mendelian inheritance, gene drives ensure the biased transmission of specific traits to offspring, potentially enabling rapid propagation through wild populations. Gene drives can be utilized to alter or eliminate entire mosquito populations, potentially curbing vector-borne disease transmission in a sustainable manner. Additionally, several improved genetic control strategies provide temporally self-limiting and spatially confinable options for pest control. This review summarizes genetic control research in Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex mosquitoes, focusing on recent progress, major bottlenecks, and potential solutions.

Parasites of dogs and cats are changing in ways that challenge our current understanding across many scientific fields. Factors such as climate change and increased global travel are reshaping parasite distributions, favoring their introduction and emergence in new foci. Some parasites appear to have emerged in new regions, while others have switched hosts or developed resistance. Other parasites may have long been overlooked because of limited diagnostic capacity. At the same time, genetic recombination and hybridization are producing variants with altered virulence and transmission patterns. Together, these trends suggest a future in which companion animal parasitology becomes more dynamic, unpredictable, and globally interconnected, demanding stronger surveillance, improved diagnostics, and closer integration between veterinary and public health efforts.

Infectious pathogens extensively rewire host RNA processing, yet most studies examine individual processing mechanisms in isolation. In this review, we synthesize evidence that alternative splicing, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation, and adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing collectively shape infection outcomes across viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens by modulating host defense and pathogen replication. We highlight how pathogens hijack or are constrained by these mechanisms, with particular emphasis on underexplored bacterial and parasitic systems. We then propose a metatranscriptomics framework that integrates long-read and direct RNA sequencing with specialized computational tools to jointly profile splicing, m6A, and A-to-I editing in host and pathogen. Such integrative analyses will reveal convergent regulatory nodes and guide the development of host-directed therapies.

Parasites elicit a wide range of gastrointestinal symptoms, often attributed to tissue damage or alterations in the gut microbiota. A recent study by Touhara et al. pioneers the functional understanding of a collaboration between chemosensory epithelial cells and sensory neurons to induce behavioral changes during immune responses against parasitic infections.