title: Genomics of Loa loa, a Wolbachia-free filarial parasite of humans.
abstract: Loa loa, the African eyeworm, is a major filarial pathogen of humans. Unlike most filariae, L. loa does not contain the obligate intracellular Wolbachia endosymbiont. We describe the 91.4-Mb genome of L. loa and that of the related filarial parasite Wuchereria bancrofti and predict 14,907 L. loa genes on the basis of microfilarial RNA sequencing. By comparing these genomes to that of another filarial parasite, Brugia malayi, and to those of several other nematodes, we demonstrate synteny among filariae but not with nonparasitic nematodes. The L. loa genome encodes many immunologically relevant genes, as well as protein kinases targeted by drugs currently approved for use in humans. Despite lacking Wolbachia, L. loa shows no new metabolic synthesis or transport capabilities compared to other filariae. These results suggest that the role of Wolbachia in filarial biology is more subtle than previously thought and reveal marked differences between parasitic and nonparasitic nematodes.
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Desjardins
authors.forename: Gustavo C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Cerqueira
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Dunning Hotopp
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zucker
authors.forename: José M C
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Sakina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saif
authors.forename: Joshua Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Qiandong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wortman
authors.forename: Doran L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: Bruce W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Birren
authors.forename: Thomas B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Nutman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017178:Brugia malayi / Q000235:genetics; D005368:Filariasis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology; D005370:Filarioidea / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology; D017238:Genes, Helminth / Q000235:genetics*; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D006801:Humans; D008117:Loa / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D013559:Symbiosis; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000235:genetics*; D014958:Wuchereria bancrofti / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011494:Protein Kinases