RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have completed sequencing the northern root-knot nematode, making it the smallest multicellular animal genome to be completely sequenced.
North Carolina State University scientists said the nematode is one of the world's most common and destructive plant parasites -- Meloidogyne hapla -- a microscopic, soil-dwelling worm,
Professor Charles Opperman, co-director of the Center for the Biology of Nematode Parasitism and the study's corresponding author, said the achievement could help lead to a new generation of eco-friendly tools to manage the parasitic worm that, along with other species of root-knot nematode, causes approximately $50 billion in crop and plant damage each year.
The researchers said they have made their data publicly available for other researchers.
The study that included scientists from the University of California-Davis, University of California-Berkeley and the Joint Genome Institute is reported in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
