Establishment of nematomorphs for comparative genomics and developmental biology

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andreas Hejnol; Professor Dr. Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa
• Subject Area: Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology) ; General Genetics and Functional Genome Biology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 497790570

The nematomorphs, (or horsehair worms) comprise a clade of solely parasitic protostomes. However, despite their fascinating life cycle and development, their phylogenetic position remains unsolved and no genomic information is published so far. Therefore, we will in this project characterize the genome, epigenome, cell types and the molecular development of two distantly related nematomorph species. To this end, we will generate and analyze extensive and state-of-the-art single cell transcriptomic and epigenomic data for the adults, larva and embryonic stages. This endeavor builds on long standing expertise of the applicants in comparative genomics and developmental biology and specialist knowledge about the morphology and ecology of this phylum. The relevant background information and preparatory work is outlined below.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants