Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-2014

Journal

Nature Genetics

Volume

Volume 46, Issue 3

Inclusive Pages

261-269

DOI

10.1038/ng.2875

Keywords

Genome, Helminth; Necator americanus--genetics

Abstract

The hookworm Necator americanus is the predominant soil-transmitted human parasite. Adult worms feed on blood in the small intestine, causing iron-deficiency anemia, malnutrition, growth and development stunting in children, and severe morbidity and mortality during pregnancy in women. We report sequencing and assembly of the N. americanus genome (244 Mb, 19,151 genes). Characterization of this first hookworm genome sequence identified genes orchestrating the hookworm's invasion of the human host, genes involved in blood feeding and development, and genes encoding proteins that represent new potential drug targets against hookworms. N. americanus has undergone a considerable and unique expansion of immunomodulator proteins, some of which we highlight as potential treatments against inflammatory diseases. We also used a protein microarray to demonstrate a postgenomic application of the hookworm genome sequence. This genome provides an invaluable resource to boost ongoing efforts toward fundamental and applied postgenomic research, including the development of new methods to control hookworm and human immunological diseases.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of Nature Genetics.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Peer Reviewed

1

Open Access

1

Additional Files
Supplementary Information for.pdf (4855 kB)
Supplementary Figures 1–19, Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, and Supplementary Note
Differential expression between the iL3 and Adult stages of N. americanus..xlsx (2436 kB)
Differential expression between the iL3 and Adult stages of N. americanus.
Operons in N. americanus conserved with C. elegans operons..xlsx (31 kB)
Operons in N. americanus conserved with C. elegans operons.
Interpro, CAP domain, Gene Ontology (GO) and NCBI Reference (NR) annotations for N. americanus genes..xlsx (1881 kB)
Interpro, CAP domain, Gene Ontology (GO) and NCBI Reference (NR) annotations for N. americanus genes.
Stage-specific gene counts and enrichment values for gene ontology (GO) terms..xlsx (77 kB)
Stage-specific gene counts and enrichment values for gene ontology (GO) terms.
Orthologous Groups for N. americanus genes, as classified by OrthoMCL..xlsx (986 kB)
Orthologous Groups for N. americanus genes, as classified by OrthoMCL.
Classification and annotation of genes identified as potential drug targets in N. americanus..xlsx (1563 kB)
Classification and annotation of genes identified as potential drug targets in N. americanus.
Prioritization of N. americanus kinases as drug targets..xlsx (25 kB)
Prioritization of N. americanus kinases as drug targets.
Compounds from DrugBank prioritized as potential kinase drugs..xlsx (41 kB)
Compounds from DrugBank prioritized as potential kinase drugs.
Prioritized list of N. americanus chokepoints as potential drug targets..xlsx (88 kB)
Prioritized list of N. americanus chokepoints as potential drug targets.
Complete metabolic modules in N. americanus and human and bottleneck genes based on gene expression..xlsx (16 kB)
Complete metabolic modules in N. americanus and human and bottleneck genes based on gene expression.
Compounds from DrugBank prioritized as chokepoints inhibitors..xlsx (56 kB)
Compounds from DrugBank prioritized as chokepoints inhibitors.
Proteins represented and detected (fluorescence intensities) on the protein array..xlsx (144 kB)
Proteins represented and detected (fluorescence intensities) on the protein array.
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