Project description:Hymenolepis spp. (H. diminuta, H. nana and H. microstoma) are rodent-hosted tapeworms (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda) that have been used as laboratory and teaching models since the 1950s, and consequently much of our understanding of the basic physiology, biochemistry and anatomy of tapeworms in general stems from research using these species. As representatives of the order Cyclophyllidea, they are closely related to species with significant medical and economic importance such as Taenia and Echinococcus spp., but unlike these may be maintained in vivo using only laboratory mice and flour beetles (n.b. Echinoccous spp. are hosted by foxes and Taenia spp. are hosted by pigs or cows). This effort brings a classical laboratory model into the genomic age, allowing researchers in silico access to its genome and expressed gene transcripts and thereby greatly expediting research directed at understanding the genetic basis of tapeworm biology.
