Special Issue on Nematodes Research

The nematodes are traditionally regarded as the nemathelminthes. They would be the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animal phyla. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish, over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. The total number of nematode species has been estimated to be about 1 million. Some of them were free-living species, the other were parasitic species.

Among these parasitic species, nematodes commonly parasitic on humans include ascarids, filarias, hookworms, pinworms and whipworms. The species trichinellaspiralis, commonly known as the 'trichina worm', occurs in rats, pigs, and humans, and is responsible for the disease trichinosis. In contrast, entomopathogenic nematodes parasitize insects and are considered by humans to be beneficial. For example, some nematodes can live inside of the cotton bollworms and can make the insects to die. The death rate can reach 100%. Those nematodes are good candidates for the biological control of insects, either alone or in conjunction with other pest management systems.

Among all kinds of free-living species, Caenorhabditis elegans is the most famous species. In 1963, Sydney Brenner proposed using C. elegans as a model organism for the investigation of animal development including neural development. C. elegans is simple, transparent, easy to grow in bulk populations, and convenient for genetic analysis. It is a multicellular eukaryotic organism that is simple enough to be studied in great detail. C. elegans were widely used forresearch in many biological fields, such as genetics, developmental biology, molecular biology, cytobiology. As an important species, nematodes research becomes a hotspot in the field of animal science.

In this special issue, we intend to invite front-line researchers and authors to submit original research and review articles on exploring Nematodes Research.

Authors should read over the journal’s Authors’ Guidelines carefully before submission. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal’s Paper Submission System.

Please kindly notice that the “Special Issue’’ under your manuscript title is supposed to be specified and the research field “Special Issue-Nematodes Research” should be chosen during your submission.

According to the following timetable:

Guest Editor:

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Please contact Editorial Assistant at

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