{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T05:59:39Z","timestamp":1780898379829,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780876800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Vet. Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Theileria parva<\/jats:italic>\n                    (Tp), the causative agent of East Coast Fever, poses a major threat to\n                    <jats:italic>Bos taurus<\/jats:italic>\n                    cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. Progress towards a stable, affordable, cross-protective subunit vaccine covering more than one major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-presented Tp antigen has been hindered by the limited knowledge of antigens. Given the importance of glycoconjugates in protozoan pathogen biology, especially during the invasion process, we investigated the glycosylation potential of Tp. Screening of Tp Muguga (TpM) schizonts with C-type lectin (-like) receptors showed that ruminant, but not murine, Macrophage C-type Lectin (MCL) recognises the parasite. Binding of ruminant MCL to TpM schizonts suggested the presence of carbohydrate-associated parasite surface molecules. Lectin staining further suggested the presence of terminal GlcNAc residues on the parasite surface which is in alignment with the identification of a minimal N-glycosylation machinery in TpM schizonts. LC-MS\/MS analysis of HILIC HPLC and lectin-enriched peptides from parasite protein fractions yielded eight predicted N-glycopeptides and two predicted O-glycopeptides. Putative parasite O-glycans were assigned with high confidence, yet assignments of putative N-glycans to parasite proteins were less confident. Our data provide first insights into potential TpM glycoconjugates while confirmation of glycan composition and assignment requires additional analyses.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2026.1816563","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T05:33:07Z","timestamp":1780896787000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Investigation of carbohydrate-based molecules of Theileria parva parasites"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Jeannine","family":"Kolakowski","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, Royal Veterinary College","place":["Hatfield, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shi","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Parasitology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna","place":["Vienna, Austria"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Johannes","family":"Stadlmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biochemistry, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna","place":["Vienna, Austria"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bernd","family":"Lepenies","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Immunology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover","place":["Hannover, Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit\u00e4t M\u00fcnchen","place":["Planegg, Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Ngugi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, Royal Veterinary College","place":["Hatfield, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heather","family":"Harris","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, Royal Veterinary College","place":["Hatfield, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dirk","family":"Werling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, Royal Veterinary College","place":["Hatfield, United Kingdom"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1016\/0167-5877(92)90070-v","article-title":"Estimated economics of theileriosis control in Africa","volume":"12","author":"Mukhebi","year":"1992","journal-title":"Prev Vet Med"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.agsy.2005.09.004","article-title":"Livestock health and socio-economic impacts of a veterinary intervention in Maasailand: infection-and-treatment vaccine against East Coast fever","volume":"89","author":"Homewood","year":"2006","journal-title":"Agric Syst"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2008.11.007","article-title":"Live immunization against East Coast fever\u2014current status","volume":"25","author":"Di Giulio","year":"2009","journal-title":"Trends Parasitol"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1000499","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.1000499","article-title":"The transforming parasite Theileria co-opts host cell mitotic and central spindles to persist in continuously dividing cells","volume":"8","author":"von Schubert","year":"2010","journal-title":"PLoS Biol"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0156004","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0156004","article-title":"East Coast fever caused by Theileria parva is characterized by macrophage activation associated with vasculitis and respiratory failure","volume":"11","author":"Fry","year":"2016","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e00703-19","DOI":"10.1128\/IAI.00703-19","article-title":"Changes in the molecular and functional phenotype of bovine monocytes during Theileria parva infection","volume":"87","author":"Bastos","year":"2019","journal-title":"Infect Immun"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"S353","DOI":"10.1017\/S0031182003004682","article-title":"Chemical control of ticks on cattle and the resistance of these parasites to acaricides","volume":"129","author":"George","year":"2004","journal-title":"Parasitology"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/0304-4017(75)90007-2","article-title":"East coast fever: 3. 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