Genome analysis: helping to solve the molecular mysteries of schistosomes

Considerable progress has been made by the Schistosome Genome Project, primarily in gene discovery, involving comparison of cDNA libraries representing different stages of the parasite life-cycle. Genome analysis will provide greater insight in to some of the fundamental biological functions occurring during the complex schistosome life-cycle and will help to determine the molecular pathways involved. In this article we present an update of the Schistosome Genome Project and highlight interesting areas of molecular research relating to gene expression and development, host-parasite relationships and molecular systematics