Draft genome of the filarial nematode parasite Brugia malayi.

Parasitic nematodes that cause elephantiasis and river blindness threaten hundreds of millions of people in the developing world. We have sequenced the approximately 90 megabase (Mb) genome of the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi and predict approximately 11,500 protein coding genes in 71 Mb of robustly assembled sequence. Comparative analysis with the free-living, model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans revealed that, despite these genes having maintained little conservation of local synteny during approximately 350 million years of evolution, they largely remain in linkage on chromosomal units.

Xenobiotic detoxification in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model organism for the study of such diverse aspects of animal physiology and behavior as embryonic development, chemoreception, and the genetic control of lifespan. Yet, even though the entire genome sequence of this organism was deposited into public databases several years ago, little is known about xenobiotic metabolism in C. elegans.