To provide a novel resource for analysis of the genome of Biomphalaria glabrata, members of the international Biomphalaria glabrata Genome Initiative (biology.unm.edu/biomphalaria-genome.html
Key words: genomics -gene discovery -fingerprinting -schistosomiasis -medical malacologyThe application of molecular approaches continues to contribute novel insights into the biology, including genomics of molluscs . To date, several mitochondrial genomes of molluscs have been sequenced (DeJong et al. 2004, Mizi et al. 2005, but the nuclear genome of a representative of the Phylum Mollusca remains to be fully characterized. In fact, lophotrochozoan protostomes of which mollusca represent the largest group (Rouse 1999), are underrepresented among the animals from which the current assembly of fully sequenced genomes has been obtained. Thus, genomic data from a mollusc will help fill a gap in the information on the evolutionary history of animal life (Collins et al. 2003). Molluscs are a highly diverse group that includes some of the largest, longest living, and most intelligent invertebrates. Genome information will instruct on several remarkable properties of molluscs such as shell formation (biomineralization; Milet et al. 2004), the evolution of body asymmetry (Schilthuizen & Davison 2005), and hermaphrodism (Paraense & Corrêa 1988). Molluscs are also being used to study pharmo-toxicology (Terlau & Olivera 2004); neuroendocrinology (Altelaar et al. 2005); parthenogenesis (Jokela et al. 2003); and the molecular basis of behavior and learning (Williamson & Chrachri 2004, Zhurov et al. 2005. Molluscs serve as bioindicators for monitoring of the environment (Zhao et al. 2005), and (snails especially) are useful for understanding how natural selection operates (Vermeij 2002). Furthermore, molluscs are economically important as a major source of food, can destroy crops, colonize and impact new habitats as invasive species (Pointier et al. 2005), and transmit medically important pathogens.The latter applies to the freshwater gastropod Biomphalaria glabrata (Planorbidae, Basommatophora). This snail serves as one of the most important intermediate hosts for a widespread pathogen of humans, the digenetic trematode Schistosoma mansoni (Paraense & Corrêa 1963, Morgan et al. 2001). This parasite causes intestinal schistosomiasis, a debilitating disease that afflicts over 50 million humans (Chitsulo et al. 2004). To a large extent, the geographic distribution of B. glabrata defines the et al. 2004). B. glabrata also hosts a variety of other digenetic trematodes and has been adopted as the most commonly used model host to study the basic biology of digeneansnail interactions (Lie 1982, Adema & Loker 1997, Vergote et al. 2005. As one example, B. glabrata has been found to produce after exposure to digeneans a unique family of hemolymph molecules termed FREPs (fibrinogen-related proteins). FREPs consist of a juxtaposition of fibrinogen and immunoglobulin superfamily domains, and have proven to be remarkably diverse in their composition...