Draft Genome of the Filarial Nematode Parasite Brugia Malayi

TitleDraft Genome of the Filarial Nematode Parasite Brugia Malayi
Publication TypeJournal Articles
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsGhedin E, Wang S, Spiro D, Caler E, Zhao Q, Crabtree J, Allen JE, Delcher AL, Guiliano DB, Miranda-Saavedra D, Angiuoli SV, Creasy T, Amedeo P, Haas B, El‐Sayed NM, Wortman JR, Feldblyum T, Tallon L, Schatz M, Shumway M, Koo H, Salzberg SL, Schobel S, Pertea M, Pop M, White O, Barton GJ, Carlow CKS, Crawford MJ, Daub J, Dimmic MW, Estes CF, Foster JM, Ganatra M, Gregory WF, Johnson NM, Jin J, Komuniecki R, Korf I, Kumar S, Laney S, Li B-W, Li W, Lindblom TH, Lustigman S, Ma D, Maina CV, Martin DMA, McCarter JP, McReynolds L, Mitreva M, Nutman TB, Parkinson J, Peregrín-Alvarez JM, Poole C, Ren Q, Saunders L, Sluder AE, Smith K, Stanke M, Unnasch TR, Ware J, Wei AD, Weil G, Williams DJ, Zhang Y, Williams SA, Fraser-Liggett C, Slatko B, Blaxter ML, Scott AL
JournalScience
Volume317
Issue5845
Pagination1756 - 1760
Date Published2007/09/21/
ISBN Number0036-8075, 1095-9203
Abstract

Parasitic nematodes that cause elephantiasis and river blindness threaten hundreds of millions of people in the developing world. We have sequenced the ∼90 megabase (Mb) genome of the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi and predict ∼11,500 protein coding genes in 71 Mb of robustly assembled sequence. Comparative analysis with the free-living, model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans revealed that, despite these genes having maintained little conservation of local synteny during ∼350 million years of evolution, they largely remain in linkage on chromosomal units. More than 100 conserved operons were identified. Analysis of the predicted proteome provides evidence for adaptations of B. malayi to niches in its human and vector hosts and insights into the molecular basis of a mutualistic relationship with its Wolbachia endosymbiont. These findings offer a foundation for rational drug design.

URLhttp://www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5845/1756
DOI10.1126/science.1145406