Special Issue "It’s a Nematode World!"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021).

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giada D'Errico
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II Via Università 100, 80056 Portici (Naples), Italy
Interests: soil nematodes; crop protection
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Maria Paola Maurelli
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, 80137 Naples, Italy
Interests: epidemiology; diagnosis (with classical and innovative techniques) and control of protozoa; helminths and arthropods of veterinary and human interest
Dr. Francesco Vinale
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: secondary metabolites; Trichoderma; biocontrol; plant growth promotion; disease resistance; metabolome; beneficial microbe consortia
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nematodes are the most abundant metazoa on Earth, and nematode-borne diseases represent a risk for plants, animals, and humans worldwide. Free-living nematodes together with plant, animal, and human parasitic nematodes are the main aim of nematology studies.

Plant-parasitic nematodes cause root rot, cysts, reductions in nutrients uptake and plant growth, and plant death, changing their availability also for animal feeding. Some nematodes can also be vectors of plant viruses. In animals and humans, most nematodes are localized in the gastrointestinal tract, with reduced productivity in livestock and negative health impacts in all the hosts. This situation is further exacerbated by treatment failure due to the escalating spread of anthelmintic resistance (AR) that constrains the control of helminth infections. For this reason, alternative helminth control strategies, based especially on natural products with anthelmintic activity, are being developed. Free-living nematodes are non-parasitic nematodes in soil and/or water, feeding on fungi, bacteria, algae, protozoans or other nematodes. However, the phylogenetic relationship of parasitic nematode groups to free-living species remains problematic.

The management of these parasites represents a huge challenge in different branches (plant protection, entomology, parasitology, animal production, animal nutrition, etc.), and therefore a multidisciplinary approach is necessary.

In this Special Issue, we aim to bring together research articles, reviews, and short communications that investigate all aspects of the phylogenesis, ecology, epidemiology, diagnosis, and control of nematodes.

Dr. Giada D'Errico
Prof. Dr. Maria Paola Maurelli
Dr. Francesco Vinale
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Parasitology
  • Nematodes
  • Phylogenesis
  • Biodiversity
  • Ecology
  • Diagnosis
  • Control
  • Pest management
  • Anthelmintic resistance
  • Metabolic footprints

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Characterization and Functional Importance of Two Glycoside Hydrolase Family 16 Genes from the Rice White Tip Nematode Aphelenchoides besseyi
Animals 2021, 11(2), 374; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020374 - 02 Feb 2021
Viewed by 702
Abstract
The glycoside hydrolase family 16 (GH16) is widely found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and hydrolyzes the β-1,3(4)-linkages in polysaccharides. Notably, the rice white tip nematode Aphelenchoides besseyi harbors a higher number of GH16s compared with other plant-parasitic nematodes. In this work, two GH16 [...] Read more.
The glycoside hydrolase family 16 (GH16) is widely found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and hydrolyzes the β-1,3(4)-linkages in polysaccharides. Notably, the rice white tip nematode Aphelenchoides besseyi harbors a higher number of GH16s compared with other plant-parasitic nematodes. In this work, two GH16 genes, namely AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2, were isolated and characterized from A. besseyi. The deduced amino acid sequences of AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 contained an N-terminal signal peptide and a fungal Lam16A glucanase domain. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 clustered with ascomycete GH16s, suggesting AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 were acquired by horizontal gene transfer from fungi. In situ hybridization showed that both AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 were specifically expressed in the nematode gonads, correlating with qPCR analysis that showed the high transcript levels of the two genes in the female nematodes. AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 were also significantly induced in nematodes feeding on Botrytis cinerea. Characterization of the recombinant protein showed AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 displayed pronounced inhibition of both conidial germination and germ tube elongation of B. cinerea. In addition, silencing of AbGH16-1 and AbGH16-2 by RNA interference significantly decreased the reproduction ability of A. besseyi and had a profound impact on the development process of offspring in this nematode. These findings have firstly proved that GH16s may play important roles in A.besseyi feeding and reproduction on fungi, which thus provides novel insights into the function of GH16s in plant-parasitic nematodes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue It’s a Nematode World!)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop