Fig. 1

Flowchart of the analysis workflow. Female and male worm specimens were collected from two different hosts and used for mRNA sequencing and mass spectrometry. In-depth analyses ensured target identification (the target sequence is present in acanthocephalans), specificity (the target sequence is absent or has little sequence similarity in non-acanthocephalan species), and availability and accessibility (the target is present as protein in the acanthocephalan body wall). Candidate target protein sequences that fulfill these criteria were passed on to protein modeling and ligand screening