Forty years of helminth biochemistry

This review describes some of the developments in helminth biochemistry that have taken place over the last 40 years. Since the early 1970s the main anabolic and catabolic pathways in parasitic helminths have been worked out. The mode of action of the majority of anthelmintics is now known, but in many cases the mechanisms of resistance remain elusive. Developments in helminth biochemistry have depended heavily on developments in other areas. High throughput methods such as proteomics, transcriptomics and genome sequencing are now generating vast amounts of new data. The challenge for the future is to interpret and understand the biological relevance of this new information.