Opinion
How Can We Understand the Genomic Basis of Nematode Parasitism?

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Genomic analyses of nematodes has the potential to give critical insights into the genetic and genomic basis of nematode parasitism.

Comparisons of the genomes of free-living and parasitic nematodes need to be phylogenetically appropriate, to properly understand the genomic basis of nematode parasitism.

We lack information about free-living species that are close relatives of parasitic nematodes of interest.

Our immense accumulated understanding of the biology of the model Caenorhabditis elegans might lead us astray, because we can forget that it is just one, perfectly average, nematode.

Synthetic biology approaches may give us the opportunity ultimately to test our understanding of the basis of nematode parasitism.

Nematodes are very common animals and they have repeatedly evolved parasitic lifestyles during their evolutionary history. Recently, the genomes of many nematodes, especially parasitic species, have been determined, potentially giving an insight into the genetic and genomic basis of nematodes’ parasitism. But, to achieve this, phylogenetically appropriate comparisons of genomes of free-living and parasitic species are needed. Achieving this has often been hampered by the relative lack of information about key free-living species. While such comparative approaches will eventually succeed, I suggest that a synthetic biology approach – moving free-living nematodes towards a parasitic lifestyle – will be our ultimate test of truly understanding the genetic and genomic basis of nematode parasitism.

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