ArticleNature microbiology2026
Babesia divergens host cell egress is mediated by essential and druggable kinases and proteases.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review
- Inhibition of malaria and babesiosis parasites by putative red blood cell targeting small molecules.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- The Magic of Proteases: From a Procoagulant and Anticoagulant Factor V to an Equitable Treatment of Its Inherited Deficiency.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Establishment of a stable transfection and gene targeting system inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
- Comparative single-cell transcriptional atlases of Babesia species reveal conserved and species-specific expression profiles.PLoS biology · 2022Article
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13 authors.
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Abstract
Egress from host cells is fundamental for the spread of infection by apicomplexan parasites, including Babesia species. These tick-borne pathogens represent emerging zoonoses, but treatment options are limited. Here, using microscopy, transcriptomics and chemical genetics, we identified signalling, proteases and gliding motility as key drivers of egress by Babesia divergens. We developed reverse genetic tools in B. divergens to perform a knockdown screen of putative mediators of egress, identifying kinases and proteases involved in distinct steps of egress (aspartyl protease (ASP) 3 and kinases cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) and calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK4)) and invasion (ASP2, ASP3 and PKG) of red blood cells. Inhibition of egress stimulates additional rounds of intracellular replication, indicating that exit from the replication cycle is uncoupled from egress. Chemical genetics validated PKG, CDPK4, ASP2 and ASP3 as druggable targets in Babesia spp. and identified promising compounds for babesiosis treatment. Taken together, egress in B. divergens more closely resembles egress in Toxoplasma gondii than in the more evolutionarily related Plasmodium spp.
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Registered trials
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