PLPA 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Dirofilaria Immitis, Trichinosis, Parthenogenesis
4 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
The major concept for this week is nematodes. First, nematodes are animals, like you and me - although not so very much like you and me. All animals are eukaryotic, with genetic material contained within the nuclei of our cells, and all animals are multicellular. Remember that plants and most fungi are also eukaryotic and multicellular, while bacteria are prokaryotic and unicellular. Nematodes are also like us in that they are capable of locomotion, swimming with snake-like movements for very short distances through the water in soil. Finally, nematodes are like us in that they feed by consuming other organisms. Most nematodes feed on other small forms of life, such as bacteria, and on organic matter. A few nematodes feed on, or parasitize, animals, causing diseases such as heartworm in dogs and trichinosis in humans. All of the plant-infecting nematodes are obligate parasites, meaning they must have a living plant host in order to survive.
