Natural selection has driven the recurrent loss of an immunity gene that protects against a major natural parasite.

Polymorphisms in immunity genes can have large effects on susceptibility to infection. To understand the origins of this variation, we have investigated the genetic basis of resistance to the parasitoid wasp in We found that increased expression of the gene after infection by parasitic wasps was associated with a faster cellular immune response and greatly increased rates of killing the parasite. encodes a protein that is strongly up-regulated in the fat body after infection and localizes to the surface of the parasite egg.

Modelling the functional genomics of Parkinson's disease in Caenorhabditis elegans: LRRK2 and beyond.

For decades, Parkinson's disease (PD) cases have been genetically categorised into familial, when caused by mutations in single genes with a clear inheritance pattern in affected families, or idiopathic, in the absence of an evident monogenic determinant. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed how common genetic variability can explain up to 36% of PD heritability and that PD manifestation is often determined by multiple variants at different genetic loci. Thus, one of the current challenges in PD research stands in modelling the complex genetic architecture of this condition and translating this into functional studies.