The number of publicly available parasitic worm genome sequences has increased
dramatically in the past three years, and research interest in helminth functional genomics is …

Nematodes are abundant and diverse, and include many parasitic species. Molecular
phylogenetic analyses have shown that parasitism of plants and animals has arisen at least …

Parasitic nematodes (roundworms) and platyhelminths (flatworms) cause debilitating
chronic infections of humans and animals, decimate crop production and are a major …

Tea is the world's oldest and most popular caffeine-containing beverage with immense
economic, medicinal, and cultural importance. Here, we present the first high-quality …

Protein phosphatases are the essential opposite to protein kinases; together, these enzymes
regulate all protein phosphorylation and most cellular processes. To better understand the …

Background A fundamental concept in biology is that heritable material, DNA, is passed from
parent to offspring, a process called vertical gene transfer. An alternative mechanism of …

Root-knot nematodes (genus Meloidogyne) exhibit a diversity of reproductive modes
ranging from obligatory sexual to fully asexual reproduction. Intriguingly, the most …

Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the nematode responsible for a devastating epidemic of pine
wilt disease in Asia and Europe, and represents a recent, independent origin of plant …

Abstract Dodders (Cuscuta spp., Convolvulaceae) are root-and leafless parasitic plants. The
physiology, ecology, and evolution of these obligate parasites are poorly understood. A high …

Background Globodera pallida is a devastating pathogen of potato crops, making it one of
the most economically important plant parasitic nematodes. It is also an important model for …