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Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Daily Overview

Session

CP18: Cells, Molecules & Genes 3 - 10 min talks
Location: Lecture Theatre 1
Session Chair: Shilpa Kapoor, The University of Melbourne
Session Chair: Balu Balan, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Presentation 4

Genome-wide reconstruction of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway in Haemonchus contortus

Yanxiang Shen¹, Neil D. Young¹, Jiangning Song^2,3, Brad E. Sleebs^1,4, Bill C. H. Chang¹, Erinna F. Lee^5,6, W. Douglas Fairlie^5,6,7,8, Robin B. Gasser¹

1: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia; 2: Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, VIC, Australia; 3: Monash Data Futures Institute, Monash University, VIC, Australia; 4: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia; 5: Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia; 6: La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia; 7: Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia; 8: School of Cancer Medicine, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) is a fundamental process in metazoans, extensively characterised in vertebrates but comparatively understudied in invertebrates beyond the model organisms Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we present the first reconstruction of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway in the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus, a blood-feeding pathogen of ruminants responsible for substantial global production losses. Using C. elegans proteins as a reference, we integrated genome-wide homology searches with structural modelling and developmental transcriptomic and proteomic analyses to identify apoptosis regulators in H. contortus. Homologues of all canonical pathway components were identified, including CEP-1, EGL-1, CED-9, CED-4 and CED-3, together with modulators such as DRE-1 and PUF-8. Structural analyses revealed conservation of key interaction complexes (CED-9:CED-4 and CED-4:CED-3), whereas EGL-1 and CEP-1 retained critical structural domains despite marked sequence divergence. Transcriptomic profiling showed that Hc-ced-9 and Hc-ced-3 are constitutively expressed across developmental stages, whereas Hc-cep-1 and Hc-egl-1 display stage-specific transcription. Proteomic data confirmed the presence of Hc-CED-9, Hc-CED-4 and Hc-CED-3 in at least one life stage but did not detect Hc-EGL-1 or Hc-DRE-1. Discordances between transcript and protein abundance, particularly for Hc-EGL-1, suggest post-transcriptional regulation. Future efforts are needed to elucidate the apoptosis pathway across members of the phylum Nematoda.