Genes and genomes of Necator americanus and related hookworms

The human hookworms (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale) infect o ver one billion people. The phylogenetic relationships of the human hookwor ms suggest independent acquisition of the human host. The hookworms probabl y have a haploid chromosome number n = 6. and an XX-XO sex determination me chanism is likely to be used. Genetic and molecular research on hookworms i s in its infancy, but several important genes and gene products have alread y been identified. Of note are cathepsin genes, a family of secreted protei ns known as Ancylostoma activation-associated proteins and a family of anti coagulants. The inception of an expressed sequence tag program on the human hookworm, N. americanus, promises to yield many new genes with novel funct ions in the biology of these important parasites. (C) 2000 Australian Socie ty for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science. All rights reserved .