genetics of anthelminthic drug resistance

I led the Sanger Institute involvement in the first reference genome for Haemonchus contortus. Haemonchus is widely used as a model in research on anti-nematode anthelminthics, so it was natural to try and use this resource to try and understand the genetic basis of anthelmintihcs resistance. Initially in collaboration with John Gilleard, and subsequently through leading Sanger’s invovlement in a consortium (the BUG consortium) funded by a BBSRC strategic award, we have identified a candidate locus for resistance to ivermectin in this species, and shown that this is likely to be globally important, partly through investigating the global diversity of Haemonchus using genome-wide data.

In Benedict Karani’s PhD project, Roz Laing, Jenni McIntyre, Steve Doyle, Fi Kenyon and I are using material from a well-controlled study of different treatment approaches to try and measure selection on candidate loci for ivermectin resistance. This is only possible thanks to the chromosomal assembly for Teladorsagia circumincta that Jenni and Steve have produced.