The genomic basis of parasitism in the Strongyloides clade of nematodes

V. L. Hunt, I. J. Tsai, A. Coghlan, A. J. Reid, N. Holroyd, B. J. Foth, A. Tracey, James Cotton, E. J. Stanley, H. Beasley, H. M. Bennett, K. Brooks, B. Harsha, R. Kajitani, A. Kulkarni, D. Harbecke, E. Nagayasu, S. Nichol, Y. Ogura, M. A. Quail, N. Randle, D. Xia, N. W. Brattig, H. Soblik, D. M. Ribeiro, A. Sanchez-Flores, T. Hayashi, T. Itoh, D. R. Denver, W. Grant, J. D. Stoltzfus, J. B. Lok, H. Murayama, J. Wastling, A. Streit, T. Kikuchi, M. Viney, M. Berriman
March 2016
PDF Cite DOI publisher Hunt lab Viney lab

Abstract

Soil-transmitted nematodes, including the Strongyloides genus, cause one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases. Here we compare the genomes of four Strongyloides species, including the human pathogen Strongyloides stercoralis, and their close relatives that are facultatively parasitic (Parastrongyloides trichosuri) and free-living (Rhabditophanes sp. KR3021). A significant paralogous expansion of key gene families–families encoding astacin-like and SCP/TAPS proteins–is associated with the evolution of parasitism in this clade. Exploiting the unique Strongyloides life cycle, we compare the transcriptomes of the parasitic and free-living stages and find that these same gene families are upregulated in the parasitic stages, underscoring their role in nematode parasitism.

Type
Journal article
Publication
In Nat Genet 48:299–307
James Cotton
James Cotton
Professor

My research interests are in the genomics, and particularly population genomics of parasites, particularly those that cause neglected tropical diseases