Biotech Updates

Draft Genetic Code of Dog Roundworm

February 11, 2015

An international team of researchers led by Robin Gasser, a professor from the University of Melbourne, has already sequenced the genetic code of Toxocara canis (dog roundworm). T. canis is a roundworm parasite that causes toxocariasis and infects young children and animals. This is being passed on to humans by infected dogs through contact with its fecal material. The study reveals that T. canis genome has a size of 317 Mb, repeat content of 13.5 percent and encodes at least 18,596 protein-coding genes. This finding will serve as a basis of further molecular studies for T. canis and other related parasites.

Details of the study can be read at http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150204/ncomms7145/full/ncomms7145.html and http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/news/genetic-code-cracked-worldwide-dog-and-human-parasite-0.