Sexual attraction in the free-living nematode Panagrellus silusiae (Cephalobidae)

1971 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1443-1448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Cheng ◽  
M. R. Samoiloff

Female Panagrellus silusiae produce a substance that attracts males. Males do not produce attractant, nor is there homosexual attraction. The attractant is water borne and forms a gradient in agar. The attractant is first produced by females during the fourth juvenile stage and males first respond to the attractant during the fourth juvenile stage. Female Cephalobus persegnis also produce an attractant, but the attractants of each species only attract males of that species.

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Cheng ◽  
M. R. Samoiloff

Females of the free-living dioecious nematode Panagrellus silusiae that have undergone postembryonic development in hydroxyurea do not attract males, and treated males do not respond to normal females. Nematodes placed in hydroxyurea as adults have normal gonads and retain the sexual attraction system. Hydroxyurea has no effect upon copulatory behavior of adult animals. Treatment of adult females with actidione stops production of attractant, although production resumes within 24 h after removal of the females from actidione. Actidione treatment of males has no effect upon the response to attractant by males or on copulation. It is proposed that sexual attraction depends on complete development of the reproductive system, but that copulation does not.


Parasitology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 141 (9) ◽  
pp. 1203-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
VICTORIA GILLAN ◽  
EILEEN DEVANEY

SUMMARYNematodes are amongst the most successful and abundant organisms on the planet with approximately 30 000 species described, although the actual number of species is estimated to be one million or more. Despite sharing a relatively simple and invariant body plan, there is considerable diversity within the phylum. Nematodes have evolved to colonize most ecological niches, and can be free-living or can parasitize plants or animals to the detriment of the host organism. In this review we consider the role of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) in the nematode life cycle. We describe studies on Hsp90 in the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and comparative work on the parasitic species Brugia pahangi, and consider whether a dependence upon Hsp90 can be exploited for the control of parasitic species.


Parasitology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veeren M Chauhan ◽  
David I Pritchard

AbstractCaenorhabditis elegans is a free-living nematode that resides in soil and typically feeds on bacteria. We postulate that haematophagic C. elegans could provide a model to evaluate vaccine responses to intestinal proteins from hematophagous nematode parasites, such as Necator americanus. Human erythrocytes, fluorescently labelled with tetramethylrhodamine succinimidyl ester, demonstrated a stable bright emission and facilitated visualization of feeding events with fluorescent microscopy. C. elegans were observed feeding on erythrocytes and were shown to rupture red blood cells upon capture to release and ingest their contents. In addition, C. elegans survived equally on a diet of erythrocytes. There was no statistically significant difference in survival when compared with a diet of Escherichia coli OP50. The enzymes responsible for the digestion and detoxification of haem and haemoglobin, which are key components of the hookworm vaccine, were found in the C. elegans intestine. These findings support our postulate that free-living nematodes could provide a model for the assessment of neutralizing antibodies to current and future hematophagous parasite vaccine candidates.


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 329-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Fernandes ◽  
Luiz Fernando Ferreira ◽  
Marcelo Luiz Carvalho Gonçalves ◽  
Françoise Bouchet ◽  
Carlos Henrique Klein ◽  
...  

Parasite eggs found in organic remains collected from medieval structures in Raversijde (medieval name: Walraversijde), a village on the northern coast of Belgium, are discussed. The eggs were identified as Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura, both human parasites. Species identification allowed elucidating the origin of the organic sediments and the structures, in this case latrines used by humans. Capillaria sp. and free-living nematode larvae were also found in the latrine. Although neither parasite burden nor prevalence rates could be measured, the abundance of human intestinal parasite eggs indicated a high infection rate in the village residents, reflecting very poor sanitation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1835) ◽  
pp. 20160942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinshui Zheng ◽  
Donghai Peng ◽  
Ling Chen ◽  
Hualin Liu ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
...  

Plant-parasitic nematodes were found in 4 of the 12 clades of phylum Nematoda. These nematodes in different clades may have originated independently from their free-living fungivorous ancestors. However, the exact evolutionary process of these parasites is unclear. Here, we sequenced the genome sequence of a migratory plant nematode, Ditylenchus destructor . We performed comparative genomics among the free-living nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans and all the plant nematodes with genome sequences available. We found that, compared with C. elegans , the core developmental control processes underwent heavy reduction, though most signal transduction pathways were conserved. We also found D. destructor contained more homologies of the key genes in the above processes than the other plant nematodes. We suggest that Ditylenchus spp. may be an intermediate evolutionary history stage from free-living nematodes that feed on fungi to obligate plant-parasitic nematodes. Based on the facts that D. destructor can feed on fungi and has a relatively short life cycle, and that it has similar features to both C. elegans and sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes from clade 12, we propose it as a new model to study the biology, biocontrol of plant nematodes and the interaction between nematodes and plants.


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