[
WormBook,
2007]
Heterorhabditis bacteriophora is an entomopathogenic nematode (EPN) mutually associated with the enteric bacterium, Photorhabdus luminescens, used globally for the biological control of insects. Much of the previous research concerning H. bacteriophora has dealt with applied aspects related to biological control. However, H. bacteriophora is an excellent model to investigate fundamental processes such as parasitism and mutualism in addition to its comparative value to Caenorhabditis elegans. In June 2005, H. bacteriophora was targeted by NHGRI for a high quality genome sequence. This chapter summarizes the biology of H. bacteriophora in common and distinct from C. elegans, as well as the status of the genome project.
[
1969]
In order to study properly the nutrition and culture of nematodes, it is desirable to establish the organisms in axenic culture. Only in this way can the metabolic abilities of the nematodes be separated from those of coexisting and interacting organisms. One may settle for a mono-axenic culture, but the best way to attain this is to obtain axenic nematodes and then add the second organism or tissue, for example, alfalfa callus tissue for plant parasitic nematodes (Krusberg, 1961). This chapter will devote itself, in the main, to recent work on the culture and nutrition of nematodes, free-living and parasitic, and will refer only in passing to work already thoroughly reviewed (Dougherty et al., 1959; Nicholas, et al., 1959; Dougherty, 1960).