title: Whole-genome sequence of Schistosoma haematobium.
abstract: Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by blood flukes (genus Schistosoma; schistosomes) and affecting 200 million people worldwide. No vaccines are available, and treatment relies on one drug, praziquantel. Schistosoma haematobium has come into the spotlight as a major cause of urogenital disease, as an agent linked to bladder cancer and as a predisposing factor for HIV/AIDS. The parasite is transmitted to humans from freshwater snails. Worms dwell in blood vessels and release eggs that become embedded in the bladder wall to elicit chronic immune-mediated disease and induce squamous cell carcinoma. Here we sequenced the 385-Mb genome of S. haematobium using Illumina-based technology at 74-fold coverage and compared it to sequences from related parasites. We included genome annotation based on function, gene ontology, networking and pathway mapping. This genome now provides an unprecedented resource for many fundamental research areas and shows great promise for the design of new disease interventions.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Neil D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Aaron R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Jex
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shiping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Linfeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zijun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Yingrui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantacessi
authors.forename: Ross S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Fangyuan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Adhemar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zerlotini
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Guojie
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Bronwyn E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loukas
authors.forename: Shoba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rollinson
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Brindley
authors.forename: Huanming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Robin B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gasser
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005260:Female; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D008297:Male; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D012548:Schistosoma haematobium / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA