We have been involved in Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) projects on a range of plant parasitic nematodes. One of the more striking findings of this work is the presence of a variety of genes in plant parasitic nematodes that are not usually found in animals (Popeijus et al., 2000; Qin et al., 2004; Kikuchi et al., 2004;2006). These genes include several plant cell wall degrading enzymes (cellulases, pectate lyases, expansin and cellulose binding proteins) and a chorismate mutase. Our analysis suggests that horizontal gene transfer has occurred on several independent occasions during the evolution of the nematodes. This work has been performed with collaborators in Japan and in Wageningen University. A review of this work can be found in Jones et al., (2005).

References

Jones, J.T., Furlanetto, C. and Kikuchi, T. 2005. Horizontal gene transfer from bacteria and fungi as a driving force in the evolution of plant parasitism in nematodes. Nematology 7, 641-646.

Popeijus, H., Overmars, H., Jones, J.T., Blok, V.C., Goverse, A., Helder, J., Bakker, J., Schots, A. and Smant, G. 2000. Non-symbiotic degradation of plant cell walls by animals. Nature 406, 36-37.

Qin, L., Kudla, U., Roze, E., Goverse, A., Popeijus, H., Nieuwland, J., Overmars, H., Jones, J. T., Schots, A., Smant, G., Bakker, J., Helder, J. 2003. Identification of a functional expansin, a non-enzymatic, cell wall-loosening agent, from the plant parasitic nematode Globodera rostochiensis. Nature 427, 30.

Kikuchi, T., Jones, J.T., Aikawa, T., Kosaka, H. and Ogura, N. 2004. A family of GHF45 cellulases from the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. FEBS Letters 572, 201-205.

Kikuchi, T., Shibuya, H., Aikawa, T. and Jones, J.T. 2006. Cloning and Characterization of Pectate Lyases Secreted by the Pine Wood Nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. MPMI 19, 280-287.