In vertebrates, the conversion of fibrinogen into fibrin is an essential process that underlies
the establishment of the supporting protein framework required for coagulation. In …

The arms race between hosts and pathogens (and other non-self) drives the molecular
diversification of immune response genes in the host. Over long periods of evolutionary time …

Biomphalaria snails are instrumental in transmission of the human blood fluke Schistosoma
mansoni. With the World Health Organization's goal to eliminate schistosomiasis as a global …

The study of molluscan immune systems, in particular those of bivalve molluscs (eg, clams,
oysters, scallops, mussels), has experienced great growth in recent decades, mainly due to …

The key component of the classical complement pathway C1q is regarded as a major
connecting link between innate and acquired immunity due to the highly adaptive binding …

Invertebrates lack adaptive immune systems homologous to those of vertebrates, yet it is
becoming increasingly clear that they can produce diversified antigen recognition …

This review summarizes the research progress made over the past decade in the field of
gastropod immunity resulting from investigations of the interaction between the snail …

Over their 500 million year history, gastropods have radiated into marine, freshwater and
terrestrial environments and adopted life styles ranging from herbivory to carnivory to …

For many decades, invertebrate immunity was believed to be non-adaptive, poorly specific,
relying exclusively on sometimes multiple but germ-line encoded innate receptors and …

Background Host immune function can contribute to numerous ecological/evolutionary
processes. Ecoimmunological studies, however, typically use one/few phenotypic immune …