Tag: nematodes

Ghosts of symbionts past: The hidden history of the dynamic association between filarial nematodes and their Wolbachia endosymbionts

Donna Huber on October 1, 2025

Many, but not all, parasitic filarial nematodes (Onchocercidae) carry intracellular, maternally-transmitted, alphaproteobacterial Wolbachia symbionts. The association between filarial nematodes and Wolbachia is often portrayed as mutualist, where the nematode is reliant on Wolbachia for an essential but unknown service. Wolbachia are targets for anti-filarial chemotherapeutic interventions for human disease. Wolbachia of Onchocercidae derive from four …

EAT-18 is an essential auxiliary protein interacting with the non-alpha nAChR subunit EAT-2 to form a functional receptor

Donna Huber on April 3, 2020

Nematode parasites infect approximately 1.5 billion people globally and are a significant public health concern. There is an accepted need for new, more effective anthelmintic drugs. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on parasite nerve and somatic muscle are targets of the cholinomimetic anthelmintics, while glutamate-gated chloride channels in the pharynx of the nematode are affected by the …