Parasitic infection and resource acquisition shape senescence through oxidative stress and energy depletion

Clicks: 5
ID: 315660
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #101 of 244 articles by views in international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 244 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
There is currently no theory which mechanistically links parasite virulence and host senescence. One driver of senescence is energy metabolism. We expect parasites to contribute to senescence because infection increases energy allocation to the immune system, which elevates oxidative stress and damages macromolecules. Additionally, parasites deplete their host's energy, which can increase the host's rate of mortality. While these within-host processes can contribute to mortality, they also determine the risk of parasite infection through epidemiological dynamics. To understand quantitatively the impact of these interactions on infection dynamics and on the evolution of within-host parasite growth (virulence), we developed a multiscale model that describes within-host and among-host dynamics. We found that infection prevalence is maximised at intermediate levels of resource acquisition only when energy depletion contributes to senescence. Furthermore, for a single resource level, there are two evolutionary equilibria for the parasites' growth rate. This is the first time the molecular mechanisms determining senescence have been considered in the context of parasite infection, allowing us to link virulence and senescence. Our mechanistic framework provides an alternative to the virulence-transmission trade-off and reconciles conflicting empirical findings on the impact of resources on epidemiological dynamics and virulence.
Reference Key
openalex_W7163413494 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Jonathan I D Hamley, Daniel Sanchez-Taltavull, Jacob C. Koella, Deborah Stroka
Journal international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/evolut/qpag084
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag084
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.