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An uneven race: genome editing for parasitic worms

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 19, page 621 (2021)Cite this article

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This month’s Genome Watch highlights recent advances in genome editing of parasitic worms that affect one-fifth of humans globally.

Draft genomes for the most relevant helminth species infecting humans are available. Functional tools are needed to investigate hypotheses that emerge from these data and validate targets for intervention. In the past 5 years, approaches for targeted mutagenesis have started to be developed for parasitic worms. To date, three species of parasitic nematodes (Strongyloides stercoralis1, Strongyloides ratti1 and the filarial parasite Brugia malayi2) and two species of flatworms (the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini3 and the blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni4,5) have been subjected to genome editing using CRISPR–Cas9 with varying degrees of success; major differences have been seen in mutation frequencies, transgene insertion efficiencies or whether heritable transgenesis has been achieved.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK

    Geetha Sankaranarayanan, Matthew Berriman & Gabriel Rinaldi

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  1. Geetha Sankaranarayanan
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  2. Matthew Berriman
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  3. Gabriel Rinaldi
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Correspondence to Gabriel Rinaldi.

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Sankaranarayanan, G., Berriman, M. & Rinaldi, G. An uneven race: genome editing for parasitic worms. Nat Rev Microbiol 19, 621 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00625-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00625-5

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