Vitamin B Metabolism in Host-Parasite Interactions

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Parasitic nematodes infect approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide, making them the most prevalent infectious agents globally. Current strategies to control nematode infections primarily include the use of anthelmintic drugs and community health education. However, significant challenges such as drug resistance and reinfection persist. Vitamin B, a complex of essential water-soluble vitamins crucial for cellular metabolism, is not synthesized by animals but must be acquired through their diet. Nonetheless, our recent research has shown that many parasitic nematodes have evolved partial or complete pathways for producing these vitamins. This project aims to clarify the role of vitamin B metabolism in the host-parasite interaction by characterizing their metabolic pathways in both hosts and parasites. We aim to identify which vitamin B components nematodes obtain directly from their hosts and which they synthesize themselves, and how this balance affects their growth and reproduction. Given that vitamin B pathways are typically absent in animals, understanding these pathways could lead to the development of novel control strategies, such as drugs that target specific enzymes within these pathways. Additionally, this project will develop functional genomic tools for parasitic nematodes, providing optimized heritable genome editing tools. Through this research, we aim to train scientists and achieve breakthroughs that deepen our understanding of the energy and nutritional needs of parasitic nematodes.