The complex early life stages of penaeid prawns are considered to be particularly vulnerable to temperature and/or salinity changes, with high mortality occurring during the larval stages under adverse conditions (Anger 2003).
As a complement to the qualitative analysis of the transcriptome of S. mansoni we have used SAGE to perform a quantitative evaluation of the adult-worms' transcriptome, one of the most complex life-cycle stages of S. mansoni, which expresses at least half of the genes transcribed in this organism [ 5].
Schistosomes have a complex life cycle, including free-living life stages (cercaria and miracidium) and life stages parasitizing in the snail hosts (sporocyst) or definitive mammalian hosts (egg, schistosomulum and adult).
Many parasites have complex life cycles with different stages, some involving intermediary hosts besides the final host where the mature or adult form of the parasite lives.
P. falciparum has a complex life cycle involving multiple stages in two host organisms, humans and mosquitoes.
Filarial parasites have complex life cycles with five stages and 4 cuticular molts (Additional file 1 : Figure S1) [ 4].
Aurelia's complex life cycle consists of several stages including alternating generations of sexual adult-stage medusa and asexual-stage polyp (scyphistoma) sitting at the sea bottom.
This parasite has a complex life cycle, with two developmental stages in the insect host (replicative epimastigotes and infective metacyclic trypomastigotes) and two stages in mammalian hosts (replicative intracellular amastigotes and infective bloodstream trypomastigotes).
With their large and complex eyes, aquatic and terrestrial life stages [ 3], carnivorous lifestyle [ 4], exceptional mating behaviours [ 5, 6], diversity in coloration [ 7], and occupancy of diverse light environments, odonates are ideal model organisms to study the evolution of colour and vision pathways and functions.
P. falciparum has a complex life cycle including several developmental stages in its human host.
