Bacteria associated with the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, a pathogen of trees and the causal agent of pine wilt disease (PWD) may play a role in the disease. In order to evaluate their role (positive or negative to the tree), strains isolated from the track of nematodes from infected Pinus pinaster trees were screened, in vitro, for their nematicidal potential. The bacterial products, f...

Three species of fungi, Catenaria auxiliarls (Kiihn) Tribe, Nematophthora gynophila Kerry and Crump, and a Lagenidiaceous fungus have been found attacking female cyst nematodes. All are zoosporic fungi which parasitize females on the root surface, cause the breakdown of the nematode cuticle, and prevent cyst formation. Their identification and some aspects of their biology are reviewed. N. gyno...

The fungus Gnomonia comari, causal agent of strawberry leaf blotch, was inoculated at the crown of young axenized strawberry plants growing in sterilized sand. Only the roots were colonized, and the infection was symptomless. When the fungus colonized the roots in the presence of the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus penetrans, the plants were extremely stunted and their root system was necroti...

A new species of free-living marine nematodes, Ptycholaimellus longibulbus sp. nov., is described from the East China Sea. Ptycholaimellus longibulbus sp. nov. is characterized by having body length of about 1100-1400 μm, cephalic seta 9 µm long (half a head diameter), a relatively long double posterior pharyngeal bulb occupying 44-49% of pharyngeal length, a voluminous ventral gland with a lar...

The nematode cuticle is a protective collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) that is modified, cross-linked and processed by a number of key enzymes. This Ecdyzoanspecific structure is synthesized repeatedly and allows growth and development in a linked degradative and biosynthetic process known as molting. A targeted RNAi screen using a cuticle collagen marker has been employed to identify comp...

During their development, Caenorhabditis elegans larvae go through four developmental stages. At the end of each larval stage, nematodes molt. They synthesize a new cuticle and shed the old cuticle. During the molt, larvae display a sleep-like behavior that is called lethargus. We wanted to determine how gene expression changes during the C. elegans molting cycle. We performed transcriptional p...

An alternative approach to notice changes of the nematode community structure was evaluated in five study cases Mediterranean Sea. In detail, we suggested a combination morpho-functional traits (i.e., amphid, cuticle, buccal cavity, and tail shape) as an taxonomic identification nematodes. The results clearly demonstrated that matrixes made using trait code numbers perfectly mirror at genus lev...

BACKGROUND Soil fungi face a variety of environmental stresses such as UV light, high temperature, and heavy metals. Adaptation of gene expression through transcriptional regulation is a key mechanism in fungal response to environmental stress. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the transcription factors Msn2/4 induce stress-mediated gene expression by binding to the stress response element. Previous...

Marine nematodes that carry sulfur-oxidizing bacteria on their cuticle (Stilbonematinae, Desmodoridae) migrate between oxidized and reduced sand layers thereby supplying their symbionts with oxygen and sulfide. These symbionts, in turn, constitute the worms' major food source. Due to the accessibility, abundance and relative simplicity of this association, stilbonematids may be useful to unders...

This paper assesses our state of knowledge of physiological processes involved in the relationships between insects and their mermithid nematode parasites. Three major components of the host-parasite relationship(s) are reviewed: effects of mermithids on host physiology, effects of host physiology on mermithids, and the physiology of the nematodes themselves. Mermithids induce an array of chang...