Cleavage Of Hemoglobin By Hookworm Cathepsin D Aspartic Proteases And Its Potential Contribution To Host Specificity

Abstract

Human and canine hookworms are blood-feeding nematode parasites that reach the gut of nonpermissive mammalian hosts but fail to successfully feed, develop, and reproduce, presumably as a consequence of intimate coevolution between the parasite and its normal definitive (permissive) host. To identify molecular examples of host specificity in blood-feeding pathogens, we hypothesized that hookworm digestive proteases were more efficient at cleaving hemoglobin substrates from permissive than nonpermissive host species