This cathepsin’s role in C. shasta virulence would thus be in line with the  ̈eating ̈ function (Cassone et al., 2016) of this class of proteases in other parasites, like blood flukes, malaria and ticks, where cathepsin Ds are mostly involved in host hemoglobin digestion (Coombs et al., 2001; Sojka et al., 2016). This evidence concerns the gene CTSD and malaria.