Identification of candidate infection genes from the model entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite important progress in the field of innate immunity, our understanding of host immune responses to parasitic nematode infections lags behind that of responses to microbes. A limiting factor has been the obligate requirement for a vertebrate host which has hindered investigation of the parasitic nematode infective process. The nematode parasite Heterorhabditis bacteriophora offers great potential as a model to genetically dissect the process of infection. With its mutualistic Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria, H. bacteriophora invades multiple species of insects, which it kills and exploits as a food source for the development of several nematode generations. The ability to culture the life cycle of H. bacteriophora on plates growing the bacterial symbiont makes it

SUBMITTER: Vadnal J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5209865 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature