Parasitic species

Allelopathy found hopeful utilization in plant protection against parasite weeds. The main world parasitic species are the witchweeds (Striga spp.), broomrapes (Orobanche spp.), and eventually dodder (Cuscuta spp.). Witchweeds and broom-rapes attack many economically important crops especially throughout the semi-arid regions. Early detection of parasitic weed infestation and protection is difficult because of the growth habit of a root parasite and huge production of dust-like seeds viable up to 20 years (Kebreab and Murdoch 1999). 

Feeding directly or indirectly from their hosts, parasites set themselves apart from commensals as their growth and/or development is arrested in the absence of a suitable host through lack of nutrition more usually, parasitic species in the phase of their life cycle requiring a host will die if one is not available and without a host they are unable to complete their life cycle. Commensals, whilst often found in association with their hosts, are not so dependent on them their nutrition may be facilitated by their hosts but they do not necessarily die in the absence of a host. There is obviously a continuum between the terms free-living and parasitic, with commensal somewhere between the two where one draws the line between commensal and... 

Identification of host-protective homologues in related parasite species Gauci et al. (1998), Gauci and Lightowlers (2001, 2003), Flisser et al. (2004) Gauci et al. (2002)... 

The phylum Platyhelminthes includes various dorsoventrally flattened, bilaterally symmetrical animals, which are often described as flatworms. They are present in all aquatic environments, and parasitic as well as non-parasitic species of flatworms exist. Metabolically speaking, all flatworms are very much alike, but from a more... 

The absence of de novo purine nucleotide synthesis in protozoal parasites as well as in the trematode Schistosoma mansoni is reflected in the relative importance of purine phosphoribosyl transferases in many parasite species. 

Anderson, R. M. (1978). The regulation of host population growth by parasitic species. Parasitology, 76 119-57. 

Determinations of mycobactin production by saprophytic and parasitic species of mycobacteria showed that saprophytic fast-growing mycobacteria produce more mycobactin than parasitic slow-growing mycobacteria (11). The extraction of virulent and avirulent strains of M. tuberculosis with surfactants showed that they contain similar amounts of mycobactin on their surfaces (9). Recently we have measured the production of enterochelin in IPM (0.09 / g iron/ml) by virulent strain C and avirulent strain A of E. coli (32). Results showed that spent media of virulent and avirulent bacteria contain similar amounts of enterochelin. The possibility remains, however, that still smaller amounts of iron in synthetic medium may stimulate virulent cells to produce more enterochelin. 

Seebach, D. Beck, A. K. Badine, D. M. Limbach, M. Eschenmoser, A. Treasury-wala, A. M. Hobi, R. Prikoszovich, W. Linder, B. Are oxazolidinones really unproductive, parasitic species in proline catalysis - Thoughts and experiments pointing to an alternative view, Helv. Chim. Acta 2007, 90, 425-471. 

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