Parasite Immune Modulators

Bottom line: blood-feeders and parasites secrete proteins that blunt host
clotting, inflammation and immunity. This project set out to curate them, starting with vampire bat
(Desmodus rotundus, DESRO) saliva. So far the work has been scoping: we
summarised the Vampirome salivary transcriptome, extracted its Table 4
candidates, and mapped 45 transcripts to UniProt, of which 35 matched an
accession (all unreviewed TrEMBL entries). The gene reviews themselves were
done under the sibling VAMPIROME project, which now holds 14
DESRO reviews (13 salivary candidates plus K9IMD0, the lactotransferrin
entry mapped to Draculin), 11 of them with a written description and core
functions; CALCA has a folder but no review. The checkboxes
below were not updated to reflect that. Non-bat parasites have not been
started here; nematode parasites are tracked under the
PARASITES umbrella, which treats this project as its
host-modulation sub-topic.

Overview

Project to curate parasite immune modulator proteins, starting with vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus; UniProt code DESRO) salivary proteins reported to modulate host immunity.
See projects/VAMPIROME.md for the Vampirome-focused project and shared candidate list.

Background (Vampirome + host interaction)

• The Desmodus salivary gland transcriptome/proteome (“Vampirome”) catalogs secreted protein families associated with blood-feeding and host modulation, including plasminogen activators, lipocalins/secretoglobins, antigen-5/CRISP, protease inhibitors, and immune-related peptides. PMC3685427
• Draculin is a purified salivary anticoagulant that inhibits activated coagulation factors IXa and Xa. PMID:7740503
• Vampirome transcripts include DNases implicated in disrupting neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), as well as TSG-6/TNF-inducible gene family members, and CCL28-like proteins with immune relevance. PMC3685427
• Platelet/hemostasis modulators include TFPI-like Kunitz inhibitors, apyrases (ADP degradation), and phosphatases; antimicrobial proteins and protease inhibitors (cystatin/Kazal/TIL/serpins) are also enriched. PMC3685427
• Livestock repeatedly exposed to vampire bat bites show shortened clotting/bleeding times consistent with an acquired response to salivary anticoagulants, suggesting these proteins are immunogenic in prey. J Mammal 2009
• If we extend “symbiont-host” to the bat microbiome, vampire bat gut metagenomes show enrichment for heme/iron handling, vitamin/cofactor biosynthesis, and amino-acid metabolism pathways, offering hypotheses for host–symbiont interactions beyond saliva. Animal Microbiome 2021

Seed Genes (DESRO)

• [ ] Draculin
• [ ] CALCA
• [ ] Vampirome Table 4 extract (see projects/VAMPIROME/table4_extract.md)
• [ ] TODO: add remaining vampire bat modulators from user list

Vampirome candidates (mapped to UniProt)

• Full mapping table: projects/VAMPIROME/uniprot_mapping.md
• [ ] Putative serpin (UniProt: K9IJG1; entry K9IJG1_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-25903)
• [ ] Putative secreted protein precursor (UniProt: K9IFW5; entry K9IFW5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-36340)
• [ ] Metalloproteinase inhibitor 1 (UniProt: K9IGJ9; entry K9IGJ9_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-37180)
• [ ] Beta-defensin 1 (UniProt: K9IFT7; entry K9IFT7_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-401005)
• [ ] Putative cystatin-m (UniProt: K9IWH8; entry K9IWH8_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-41885)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IRT4; entry K9IRT4_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-466603)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IHB8; entry K9IHB8_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-495622)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IWR5; entry K9IWR5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-495624)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IQU6; entry K9IQU6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-495626)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IWP0; entry K9IWP0_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-495631)
• [ ] Putative scp crisp: scp-like extracellular (UniProt: K9IWX5; entry K9IWX5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-495870)
• [ ] Putative salivary lipocalin (UniProt: K9IYU4; entry K9IYU4_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-496761)
• [ ] t-plasminogen activator (UniProt: K9IJK6; entry K9IJK6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-499018)
• [ ] Putative pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating (UniProt: K9IGD6; entry K9IGD6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-500584)
• [ ] Lysozyme (UniProt: K9IWH5; entry K9IWH5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-500942; gene LYZ)
• [ ] C-C motif chemokine (UniProt: K9IFY6; entry K9IFY6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-506850)
• [ ] Epoxide hydrolase (UniProt: K9IKD6; entry K9IKD6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-508632)
• [ ] 2-phosphoxylose phosphatase 1 (UniProt: K9IKM9; entry K9IKM9_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-508800)
• [ ] A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 1 (UniProt: K9IUF6; entry K9IUF6_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-517665)
• [ ] Putative alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (UniProt: K9IXP7; entry K9IXP7_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-518161)
• [ ] Putative disintegrin and metalloproteinase (UniProt: K9IZP9; entry K9IZP9_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-521171)
• [ ] Tumor necrosis factor-inducible gene 6 protein (UniProt: K9IIP0; entry K9IIP0_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-527888)
• [ ] Deoxyribonuclease-1-like 1 (UniProt: K9J287; entry K9J287_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-532109)
• [ ] Metalloproteinase inhibitor 3 (UniProt: K9IHC5; entry K9IHC5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-534229)
• [ ] 5'-nucleotidase domain-containing protein 1 (UniProt: K9IKC7; entry K9IKC7_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-537653)
• [ ] Natriuretic peptides B (UniProt: K9IWC0; entry K9IWC0_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-538594)
• [ ] Kunitz-type protease inhibitor 2 (UniProt: K9IZA2; entry K9IZA2_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-541822)
• [ ] Serpin B6 (UniProt: K9J5D5; entry K9J5D5_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-543253)
• [ ] Putative neuroserpin is a inhibitory member of (UniProt: K9J0L7; entry K9J0L7_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-548577)
• [ ] Acid sphingomyelinase-like phosphodiesterase (UniProt: K9IL01; entry K9IL01_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-549118)
• [ ] Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (UniProt: K9J2R0; entry K9J2R0_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-561424)
• [ ] Lymphotoxin-alpha (UniProt: K9IWR0; entry K9IWR0_DESRO; transcript BatTrinityAbyss-86412)
• [ ] Putative secreted mucin (UniProt: K9IGW6; entry K9IGW6_DESRO; transcript DrSigp-SigP-36965)
• [ ] Putative iggfc-binding protein (UniProt: K9J450; entry K9J450_DESRO; transcript DrSigp-SigP-495835)
• [ ] Putative plasma protease c1 inhibitor (UniProt: K9IYM3; entry K9IYM3_DESRO; transcript DrSigp-SigP-532391)

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STATUS

2026-01-20

• [ ] Create gene folders and fetch UniProt/GOA data
• [ ] Deep research (default: falcon)
• [ ] Review existing annotations (annotation-reviewer)
• [ ] Synthesize core functions
• [ ] Optional: pathway summary (if requested)

2026-01-21

• [x] Add general background from Vampirome and host-response literature
• [x] Extract Vampirome Table 4 candidate transcript seeds
• [x] Map Vampirome transcript IDs to DESRO genes/UniProt accessions
• [x] Expand seed gene list after mapping

NOTES

2026-01-21

• Added Vampirome background and host interaction context with citations.
• Extracted a focused Table 4 candidate list into projects/VAMPIROME/table4_extract.md.
• Mapped 45 Vampirome transcript IDs to TSA/UniProt where possible; 35 matched UniProt accessions.
• Unmapped transcripts (no TSA/UniProt match via NCBI search): BatTrinityAbyss-321620, BatTrinityAbyss-429618, BatTrinityAbyss-489254, BatTrinityAbyss-499100, BatTrinityAbyss-499228, BatTrinityAbyss-500441, BatTrinityAbyss-509950, BatTrinityAbyss-523646, BatTrinityAbyss-8258, DrSigp-SigP-210264.
• Vampirome artifacts moved under projects/VAMPIROME/ and cross-linked.

2026-01-20

• Project initialized with seed DESRO proteins (Draculin, CALCA).
• Awaiting full seed list for remaining vampire bat modulators.

Slides

• Slides (Marp source: PARASITE_IMMUNE_MODULATORS-slides.md) — AI generated