Molecular helminthology in the Rockies

A report on the Keystone Symposium on Molecular Helminthology, Copper Mountain, Colorado, USA, 9-13 April 2005

Toward 959 nematode genomes

The sequencing of the complete genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was a landmark achievement and ushered in a new era of whole-organism, systems analyses of the biology of this powerful model organism. The success of the C. elegans genome sequencing project also inspired communities working on other organisms to approach genome sequencing of their species. The phylum Nematoda is rich and diverse and of interest to a wide range of research fields from basic biology through ecology and parasitic disease. For all these communities, it is now clear that access to genome scale data will be key to advancing understanding, and in the case of parasites, developing new ways to control or cure diseases. The advent of second-generation sequencing technologies, improvements in computing algorithms and infrastructure and growth in bioinformatics and genomics literacy is making the addition of genome sequencing to the research goals of any nematode research program a less daunting prospect. To inspire, promote and coordinate genomic sequencing across the diversity of the phylum, we have launched a community wiki and the 959 Nematode Genomes initiative (www.nematodegenomes.org/). Just as the deciphering of the developmental lineage of the 959 cells of the adult hermaphrodite C. elegans was the gateway to broad advances in biomedical science, we hope that a nematode phylogeny with (at least) 959 sequenced species will underpin further advances in understanding the origins of parasitism, the dynamics of genomic change and the adaptations that have made Nematoda one of the most successful animal phyla

An expressed sequence tag survey of gene expression in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis, an intermediate vector of Fasciola hepatica

The pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis is an intermediate vector for the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica, a common parasite of ruminants and humans. Yet, despite being a disease of medical and economic importance, as well as a potentially useful comparative tool, the genetics of the relationship between Lymnaea and Fasciola has barely been investigated. As a complement to forthcoming F. hepatica expressed sequence tags (ESTs), we generated 1320 ESTs from L. stagnalis central nervous system (CNS) libraries. We estimate that these sequences derive from 771 different genes, of which 374 showed significant similarity to proteins in public databases, and 169 were similar to ESTs from the snail vector Biomphalaria glabrata. These L. stagnalis ESTs will provide insight into the function of the snail CNS, as well as the molecular components of behaviour and response to parasitism. In the future, the comparative analysis of Lymnaea/Fasciola with Biomphalaria/Schistosoma will help to understand both conserved and divergent aspects of the host-parasite relationship. The L. stagnalis ESTs will also assist gene prediction in the forthcoming B. glabrata genome sequence. The dataset is available for searching on the world-wide web at http://zeldia.cap.ed.ac.uk/mollusca.html

Conservation of long-range synteny and microsynteny between the genomes of two distantly related nematodes

BACKGROUND: Comparisons between the genomes of the closely related nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae reveal high rates of rearrangement, with a bias towards within-chromosome events. To assess whether this pattern is true of nematodes in general, we have used genome sequence to compare two nematode species that last shared a common ancestor approximately 300 million years ago: the model C. elegans and the filarial parasite Brugia malayi. RESULTS: An 83 kb region flanking the gene for Bm-mif-1 (macrophage migration inhibitory factor, a B. malayi homolog of a human cytokine) was sequenced. When compared to the complete genome of C. elegans, evidence for conservation of long-range synteny and microsynteny was found. Potential C. elegans orthologs for II of the 12 protein-coding genes predicted in the B. malayi sequence were identified. Ten of these orthologs were located on chromosome I, with eight clustered in a 2.3 Mb region. While several, relatively local, intrachromosomal rearrangements have occurred, the order, composition, and configuration of two gene clusters, each containing three genes, was conserved. Comparison of B. malayi BAC-end genome survey sequence to C. elegans also revealed a bias towards intrachromosome rearrangements. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that intrachromosomal rearrangement is a major force driving chromosomal organization in nematodes, but is constrained by the interdigitation of functional elements of neighboring genes

The CCAP KnowledgeBase : linking protistan and cyanobacterial biological resources with taxonomic and molecular data

Peer reviewe

Exploring concepts of health with male prisoners in three category-C English prisons

Lay understandings of health and illness have a well established track record and a plethora of research now exists which has examined these issues. However, there is a dearth of research which has examined the perspectives of those who are imprisoned. This paper attempts to address this research gap. The paper is timely given that calls have been made to examine lay perspectives in different geographical locations and a need to re-examine health promotion approaches in prison settings. Qualitative data from thirty-six male sentenced prisoners from three prisons in England were collected. The data was analysed in accordance with Attride-Stirling's (2001) thematic network approach. Although the men's perceptions of health were broadly similar to the general population, some interesting findings emerged which were directly related to prison life and its associated structures. These included access to the outdoors and time out of their prison cell, as well as maintaining relationships with family members through visits. The paper proposes that prisoners' lay views should be given higher priority given that prison health has traditionally been associated with medical treatment and the bio-medical paradigm more generally. It also suggests that in order to fulfil the World Health Organization's (WHO) vision of viewing prisons as health promoting settings, lay views should be recognised to shape future health promotion policy and practice

A conserved set of maternal genes? Insights from a molluscan transcriptome

The early animal embryo is entirely reliant on maternal gene products for a ‘jump-start’ that transforms a transcriptionally inactive embryo into a fully functioning zygote. Despite extensive work on model species, it has not been possible to perform a comprehensive comparison of maternally-provisioned transcripts across the Bilateria because of the absence of a suitable dataset from the Lophotrochozoa. As part of an ongoing effort to identify the maternal gene that determines left-right asymmetry in snails, we have generated transcriptome data from 1 to 2-cell and ~32-cell pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) embryos. Here, we compare these data to maternal transcript datasets from other bilaterian metazoan groups, including representatives of the Ecydysozoa and Deuterostomia. We found that between 5 and 10% of all L. stagnalis maternal transcripts (~300-400 genes) are also present in the equivalent arthropod (Drosophila melanogaster), nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans), urochordate (Ciona intestinalis) and chordate (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Danio rerio) datasets. While the majority of these conserved maternal transcripts (“COMATs”) have housekeeping gene functions, they are a non-random subset of all housekeeping genes, with an overrepresentation of functions associated with nucleotide binding, protein degradation and activities associated with the cell cycle. We conclude that a conserved set of maternal transcripts and their associated functions may be a necessary starting point of early development in the Bilateria. For the wider community interested in discovering conservation of gene expression in early bilaterian development, the list of putative COMATs may be useful resource

Prevention is better than cure, but...: Preventive medication as a risk to ordinariness?

Preventive health remains at the forefront of public health concerns; recent initiatives, such as the NHS health check, may lead to recommendations for medication in response to the identification of 'at risk' individuals. Little is known about lay views of preventive medication. This paper uses the case of aspirin as a prophylactic against heart disease to explore views among people invited to screening for a trial investigating the efficacy of such an approach. Qualitative interviews (N=46) and focus groups (N=5, participants 31) revealed dilemmas about preventive medication in the form of clashes between norms: first, in general terms, assumptions about the benefit of prevention were complicated by dislike of medication; second, the individual duty to engage in prevention was complicated by the need not to be over involved with one's own health; third, the potential appeal of this alternative approach to health promotion was complicated by unease about the implications of encouraging irresponsible behaviour among others. Though respondents made different decisions about using the drug, they reported very similar ways of trying to resolve these conflicts, drawing upon concepts of necessity and legitimisation and the special ordinariness of the particular dru