Evolutionary and biomedical implications of a Schistosoma japonicum complementary DNA resource.
Schistosoma japonicum causes schistosomiasis in humans and livestock in the Asia-Pacific region. Knowledge of the genome of this parasite should improve understanding of schistosome-host interactions, biomedical aspects of schistosomiasis and invertebrate evolution. We assigned 43,707 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from adult S. japonicum and their eggs to 13,131 gene clusters. Of these, 35% shared no similarity with known genes and 75% had not been reported previously in schistosomes. Notably, S. japonicum encoded mammalian-like receptors for insulin, progesterone, cytokines and neuropeptides, suggesting that host hormones, or endogenous parasite homologs, could orchestrate schistosome development and maturation and that schistosomes modulate anti-parasite immune responses through inhibitors, molecular mimicry and other evasion strategies.
Hu
Wei
W
Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai, 351 Guo shou-Jing Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
Yan
Qing
Q
Shen
Da-Kang
DK
Liu
Feng
F
Zhu
Zhi-Dong
ZD
Song
Huai-Dong
HD
Xu
Xiang-Ru
XR
Wang
Zhao-Jun
ZJ
Rong
Yi-Ping
YP
Zeng
Ling-Chun
LC
Wu
Jian
J
Zhang
Xin
X
Wang
Ju-Jun
JJ
Xu
Xue-Nian
XN
Wang
Sheng-Yue
SY
Fu
Gang
G
Zhang
Xiang-Lin
XL
Wang
Zhi-Qin
ZQ
Brindley
Paul J
PJ
McManus
Donald P
DP
Xue
Chun-Liang
CL
Feng
Zheng
Z
Chen
Zhu
Z
Han
Ze-Guang
ZG
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018509:DNA, Helminth