一个由法国、英国、美国和意大利等国研究人员组成的小组已成功破解了一种线虫的基因组。据专家介绍，这一成果将有助于了解对农作物有害的同类寄生虫的遗传机制，并有望以此为基础开发灭虫的新方法。
参与研究的法国国家农艺研究所7月28日发表公报说，目前人们已知的线虫种类大约有2.5万种，它们绝大多数存在于土壤中，寄生在植物根部，影响寄主植物的正常生长，并最终导致植物死亡。全球每年有大量农作物受到线虫寄生的影响，由此造成的经济损失达数百亿欧元。目前消灭线虫的常用方法是喷洒农药，但由于农药具有一定毒性，会对人体健康产生影响，因此寻找替代方案成为当务之急。
公报说，研究人员这次破解了一种名为根结线虫的基因组。对基因组的分析表明，根结线虫基因的特性与细菌十分相似，这也说明两者之间可能存在着“基因转移”现象，因为这可能有利于根结线虫在植物上的寄生。
研究负责人皮埃尔·阿巴德说，根结线虫具有极强的生命力和适应性，新研究成果将会帮助人们从遗传角度了解这些特性。
这项研究成果发表在最新一期英国《自然—生物技术》（Nature Biotechnology）杂志网络版上。（来源：新华网 李学梅）
（《自然—生物技术》（Nature Biotechnology），doi:10.1038/nbt.1482，Pierre Abad，Patrick Wincker）
Genome sequence of the metazoan plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita
Pierre Abad1,2,3, Jérôme Gouzy4, Jean-Marc Aury5,6,7, Philippe Castagnone-Sereno1,2,3, Etienne G J Danchin1,2,3, Emeline Deleury1,2,3, Laetitia Perfus-Barbeoch1,2,3, Véronique Anthouard5,6,7, François Artiguenave5,6,7, Vivian C Blok8, Marie-Cécile Caillaud1,2,3, Pedro M Coutinho9, Corinne Dasilva5,6,7, Francesca De Luca10, Florence Deau1,2,3, Magali Esquibet11, Timothé Flutre12, Jared V Goldstone13, Noureddine Hamamouch14, Tarek Hewezi15, Olivier Jaillon5,6,7, Claire Jubin5,6,7, Paola Leonetti10, Marc Magliano1,2,3, Tom R Maier15, Gabriel V Markov16,17, Paul McVeigh18, Graziano Pesole19,20, Julie Poulain5,6,7, Marc Robinson-Rechavi21,22, Erika Sallet23,24, Béatrice Ségurens5,6,7, Delphine Steinbach12, Tom Tytgat25, Edgardo Ugarte5,6,7, Cyril van Ghelder1,2,3, Pasqua Veronico10, Thomas J Baum15, Mark Blaxter26, Teresa Bleve-Zacheo10, Eric L Davis14, Jonathan J Ewbank27, Bruno Favery1,2,3, Eric Grenier11, Bernard Henrissat9, John T Jones8, Vincent Laudet16, Aaron G Maule18, Hadi Quesneville12, Marie-Noëlle Rosso1,2,3, Thomas Schiex24, Geert Smant25, Jean Weissenbach5,6,7 & Patrick Wincker5,6,7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
更多阅读（英文）
Nature Biotechnology
Published online: 27 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/nbt.1482
Published online: 27 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/nbt.1482
Genome sequence of the metazoan plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita
Pierre Abad1,2,3, Jérôme Gouzy4, Jean-Marc Aury5,6,7, Philippe Castagnone-Sereno1,2,3, Etienne G J Danchin1,2,3, Emeline Deleury1,2,3, Laetitia Perfus-Barbeoch1,2,3, Véronique Anthouard5,6,7, François Artiguenave5,6,7, Vivian C Blok8, Marie-Cécile Caillaud1,2,3, Pedro M Coutinho9, Corinne Dasilva5,6,7, Francesca De Luca10, Florence Deau1,2,3, Magali Esquibet11, Timothé Flutre12, Jared V Goldstone13, Noureddine Hamamouch14, Tarek Hewezi15, Olivier Jaillon5,6,7, Claire Jubin5,6,7, Paola Leonetti10, Marc Magliano1,2,3, Tom R Maier15, Gabriel V Markov16,17, Paul McVeigh18, Graziano Pesole19,20, Julie Poulain5,6,7, Marc Robinson-Rechavi21,22, Erika Sallet23,24, Béatrice Ségurens5,6,7, Delphine Steinbach12, Tom Tytgat25, Edgardo Ugarte5,6,7, Cyril van Ghelder1,2,3, Pasqua Veronico10, Thomas J Baum15, Mark Blaxter26, Teresa Bleve-Zacheo10, Eric L Davis14, Jonathan J Ewbank27, Bruno Favery1,2,3, Eric Grenier11, Bernard Henrissat9, John T Jones8, Vincent Laudet16, Aaron G Maule18, Hadi Quesneville12, Marie-Noëlle Rosso1,2,3, Thomas Schiex24, Geert Smant25, Jean Weissenbach5,6,7 & Patrick Wincker5,6,7
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/), which permits distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This license does not permit commercial exploitation, and derivative works must be licensed under the same or similar license.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AbstractPlant-parasitic nematodes are major agricultural pests worldwide and novel approaches to control them are sorely needed. We report the draft genome sequence of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita, a biotrophic parasite of many crops, including tomato, cotton and coffee. Most of the assembled sequence of this asexually reproducing nematode, totaling 86 Mb, exists in pairs of homologous but divergent segments. This suggests that ancient allelic regions in M. incognita are evolving toward effective haploidy, permitting new mechanisms of adaptation. The number and diversity of plant cell wall–degrading enzymes in M. incognita is unprecedented in any animal for which a genome sequence is available, and may derive from multiple horizontal gene transfers from bacterial sources. Our results provide insights into the adaptations required by metazoans to successfully parasitize immunocompetent plants, and open the way for discovering new antiparasitic strategies.
