Parasitological research in the molecular age

Abstract

New technological methods, such as rapidly developing molecular approaches, often provide new tools for scientific advances. However, these new tools are often not utilized equally across different research areas, possibly leading to disparities in progress between these areas. Here, we use empirical evidence from the scientific literature to test for potential discrepancies in the use of genetic tools to study parasitic vs non-parasitic organisms across three distinguishable molecular periods, the allozyme, nucleotide and genomics periods. Publications on parasites constitute only a fraction (<5%) of the total research output across all molecular periods and are dominated by medically relevant parasites (especially protists), particularly during the early phase of each period. Our analysis suggests an increasing complexity of topics and research questions being addressed with the development of more sophisticated molecular tools, with the research focus between the periods shifting from predominantly species discovery to broader theory-focused questions. We conclude that both new and older molecular methods offer powerful tools for research on parasites, including their diverse roles in ecosystems and their relevance as human pathogens. While older methods, such as barcoding approaches, will continue to feature in the molecular toolbox of parasitologists for years to come, we encourage parasitologists to be more responsive to new approaches that provide the tools to address broader questions.

30 years of parasitology research analysed by text mining

“…Also worthy of mention, is the presence of terms relating to ‘phylogeny’ throughout the years. This reflects the use of molecular phylogenetic approaches to study a wide variety of taxonomic and evolutionary questions in parasitology; this point was also documented by Selbach and colleagues in their studies on ‘parasitology research in the molecular age’ (Selbach et al ., 2019).…”

“…Nearly all bibliometric studies in parasitology agree on several important points; the first is the amount of literature in the discipline is rapidly increasing over time (Garrido-Cardenas et al ., 2018). The dependency on technology is also increasingly clear, a point also emphasized by others, such as in the application of molecular technologies to parasitology (Selbach et al ., 2019). Finally, the amount of literature on malaria dominates over all over species and diseases.…”

Towards a more healthy conservation paradigm: integrating disease and molecular ecology to aid biological conservation†

“…Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and concomitant development of bioinformatics tools have revolutionized the field of disease ecology. In this section, we illustrate how genomic tools have expanded the scope of wildlife disease research and refined our understanding of previously unexplored questions in disease ecology (Selbach et al 2019 ). We highlight applications of genomic tools in five key research areas and hope to bridge the gap between genomics, disease and conservation to stimulate more interdisciplinary research (figure 2 ).…”

When fiction becomes fact: exaggerating host manipulation by parasites

“…transcriptomics and genomics) to the ultimate (e.g. behavioural and evolutionary studies), would greatly enhance our ability to tease apart the intricate molecular interactions between host and parasite and better understand the true adaptive nature of host manipulation [68,84,85]. But all things considered, no piece of scientific writing, from peerreviewed publications to grant applications and institutional press releases, is completely free from certain embellishment (including the current commentary).…”