Onchocerca volvulus

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The new release (WS241) of WormBase includes Onchocerca volvulus, a filiarial nematode of clade III.

Onchocerca volvulus is a gonochoristic filarial nematode parasite of humans causing Onchocerciasis. Onchocerciasis, or River Blindness, is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) which affects over 37 million people, mainly in Africa. It is a severely debilitating disease, which is transmitted to humans by the bite of Simulium blackflies that live and breed near fast-flowing streams and rivers.

As it has been added as core WormBase nematode, we would like to welcome feedback from the community to improve the curation and representation of this new member species.

Topic Curation – Protein Unfolding Response

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Based on feedback from the nematode community, WormBase will do a themed release for WS241, which will focus on the curation of protein unfolding response processes.

This will include new publications, ontologies, interactions, gene models and more.

During the course of the curation effort, 412 genes of C.elegans / C.remanei / C.briggsae / C.japonica / C.brenneri and B.malayi have been investigated.