© 2008 The Authors 101 Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Parasite Immunology , 2008, 30, 101–111 Blackwell Publishing Ltd REVIEW ARTICLE Biomics in nutrition and immunity Review Article Emerging technologies and their applications in interactions between nutrition and immunity to gastrointestinal parasites in sheep S. ATHANASIADOU 1 & J. F. HUNTLEY 2 1 Animal Nutrition and Health, Scottish Agricultural College, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Scotland, UK, 2 Parasitology Division, Moredun Research Institute, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Scotland, UK SUMMARY Despite the plethora of evidence on the consequences of host nutrition on their immune responses to gastrointestinal para- sites, the identity of molecules and mechanisms that drive the manifestations of immunity under nutrient abundance are not yet known. This is partly due to limitations of the methodolo- gies employed to date that have failed to give comprehensive answers. The great advancements in the technological front over the past few years have opened a window of opportunity to identify these effector molecules, to explore both the mech- anisms and cellular pathways and to evaluate their importance in the immune response to parasites. The aim of this paper is to present some of the novel, high-throughput technologies that are currently available in immunology and to explore their use in advancing our knowledge in interactions between nutrition and immunity to nematode parasites, with special reference to sheep. In the first part, we introduce the techno- logies and we discuss advantages and pitfalls of their use. We bring in successful examples of how their employment advanced knowledge and improved our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate immune responses to pathogens (both micro- and macroparasites). In the second part, we focus on the impact of nutrition on the immune response to parasites, and explore how these technologies can be used to advance our knowledge of immunonutritional interactions. We use as our starting point well-established models that have been successfully used to investigate the consequences of nutrition on the manifestations of immunity to parasites, which we further consider in the context of the novel technol- ogies. We conclude by emphasizing the great potential of the described methodologies in unravelling the complex interac- tions between nutrition and immunity, but we also recommend caution when interpreting the outcomes. Keywords biomics, genomics, immunity, nematodes, nutrition, proteomics INTRODUCTION Small ruminants are continuously exposed to gastrointestinal nematodes and they eventually acquire immunity to them. The regulation of gastrointestinal nematodes in the host is mediated through a variety of effector mechanisms that influence vital biological processes of the parasite, such as the establishment, development, fecundity and their persistence in the host (1). The effector molecules responsible for the innate and the targeted immune responses are operating at different levels, which include the production of antigen- specific antibodies at both local and systemic level and mucosal hypersensitivity reactions at the parasite niche (2,3). The host response to parasite challenge is evidently multifactorial, complex, involving many genes and thus is still relatively poorly understood. The great advancements in the technological front over the past few years have opened a window of opportunity to identify the effector molecules, explore the mechanisms and cellular pathways and evaluate their importance in the immune response to parasites alone and their interactions with environmental influences. In relation to the latter, there is currently a plethora of evidence on the consequences of environmental stimuli, such as the nutrition of the host on the manifestations of immunity to gastrointestinal parasites (4,5). Despite this work, however, the evidence pointing towards the identification of molecules and mechanisms that drive the manifestations of Correspondence: Spiridoula Athanasiadou, Animal Nutrition and Health, Scottish Agricultural College, Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0PH, Scotland, UK (e-mail: Spiridoula.Athanasiadou@sac.ac.uk). Received: 5 June 2007 Accepted for publication: 4 October 2007