The genome of the sparganosis tapeworm Spirometra erinaceieuropaei isolated from the biopsy of a migrating brain lesion.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sparganosis is an infection with a larval Diphyllobothriidea tapeworm. From a rare cerebral case presented at a clinic in the UK, DNA was recovered from a biopsy sample and used to determine the causative species as Spirometra erinaceieuropaei through sequencing of the cox1 gene. From the same DNA, we have produced a draft genome, the first of its kind for this species, and used it to perform a comparative genomics analysis and to investigate known and potential tapeworm drug targets in this tapeworm.

Results

The 1.26 Gb draft genome of S. erinaceieuropaei is currently the largest reported for any flatworm. Through investigation of β-tubulin genes, we predict that S. erinaceieuropaei larvae are insensitive to the tapeworm drug albendazole. We find that many putati

SUBMITTER: Bennett HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4265353 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature