Transfection of Platyhelminthes

Overview

Journal Biomed Res Int

Publisher Wiley

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Biotechnology
General Medicine

Date 2015 Jun 20

PMID 26090388

Citations 4

Authors

Barbara Moguel

Raul J Bobes

Julio C Carrero

Juan P Laclette

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Flatworms are one of the most diverse groups within Lophotrochozoa with more than 20,000 known species, distributed worldwide in different ecosystems, from the free-living organisms in the seas and lakes to highly specialized parasites living in a variety of hosts, including humans. Several infections caused by flatworms are considered major neglected diseases affecting countries in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. For several decades, a particular interest on free-living flatworms was due to their ability to regenerate considerable portions of the body, implying the presence of germ cells that could be important for medicine. The relevance of reverse genetics for this group is clear; understanding the phenotypic characteristics of specific genes will shed light on developmental traits of free-living and parasite worms. The genetic manipulation of flatworms will allow learning more about the mechanisms for tissue regeneration, designing new and more effective anthelmintic drugs, and explaining the host-parasite molecular crosstalk so far partially inaccessible for experimentation. In this review, availability of transfection techniques is analyzed across flatworms, from the initial transient achievements to the stable manipulations now developed for free-living and parasite species.

Citing Articles

Transgenesis in parasitic helminths: a brief history and prospects for the future.

Quinzo M, Perteguer M, Brindley P, Loukas A, Sotillo J Parasit Vectors. 2022; 15(1):110.

PMID: 35346328 PMC: 8962113. DOI: 10.1186/s13071-022-05211-z.

Lost and Found: Piwi and Argonaute Pathways in Flatworms.

Fontenla S, Rinaldi G, Tort J Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2021; 11:653695.

PMID: 34123869 PMC: 8191739. DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.653695.

The Catenulida flatworm can express genes from its microbiome or from the DNA it ingests.

Rosa M, Loreto E Sci Rep. 2019; 9(1):19045.

PMID: 31836792 PMC: 6910973. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55659-w.

Conservation and diversification of small RNA pathways within flatworms.

Fontenla S, Rinaldi G, Smircich P, Tort J BMC Evol Biol. 2017; 17(1):215.

PMID: 28893179 PMC: 5594548. DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-1061-5.

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