Biology of Entomopathogenic Nematodes
Hillel Schwartz
Our research uses the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum to study host-pathogen interactions, symbiosis, and the evolution of animal biology.
We are developing the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema hermaphroditum as an experimentally tractable research organism. Entomopathogenic nematodes hunt and kill insects with the assistance of dedicated pathogenic bacterial symbionts. The worm invades the body of an insect host and releases bacteria carried in its intestines. The bacteria kill and digest the insect, serving as a food source for their nematode partners while protecting the carcass from competing microorganisms and predators. Steinernema offers opportunities to study unique aspects of its biology and to examine questions previously studied in species separated from Steinernema by hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
