Journal article
Genetic blueprint of the zoonotic pathogen Toxocara canis
Xing-Quan Zhu, Pasi K Korhonen, Huimin Cai, Neil D Young, Peter Nejsum, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Peter R Boag, Patrick Tan, Qiye Li, Jiumeng Min, Yulan Yang, Xiuhua Wang, Xiaodong Fang, Ross S Hall, Andreas Hofmann, Paul W Sternberg, Aaron R Jex, Robin B Gasser
Nature Communications | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2015
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7145
Abstract
Toxocara canis is a zoonotic parasite of major socioeconomic importance worldwide. In humans, this nematode causes disease (toxocariasis) mainly in the under-privileged communities in developed and developing countries. Although relatively well studied from clinical and epidemiological perspectives, to date, there has been no global investigation of the molecular biology of this parasite. Here we use next-generation sequencing to produce a draft genome and transcriptome of T. canis to support future biological and biotechnological investigations. This genome is 317 Mb in size, has a repeat content of 13.5% and encodes at least 18,596 protein-coding genes. We study transcription in a larval, ..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China
Awarded by Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI)
Funding Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (grant no. 2013DFA31840; X.-Q.Z. and R.B.G.), the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (R.B.G.); it was also supported by a Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) grant (VR0007; R.B.G.) on its Peak Computing Facility at the University of Melbourne, an initiative of the Victorian Government. Other support from the Australian Academy of Science, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Melbourne Water Corporation is gratefully acknowledged. N.D.Y. is an NHMRC Early Career Research (ECRF) Fellow. We acknowledge the contributions of all the staff members at WormBase (www.wormbase.org). We thank the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH; P.W.S.). We thank BGI-Shenzhen for providing a commercial service for the construction of RNA-seq and genomic libraries, and for sequencing.