Dioecious Schistosoma mansoni express divergent gene repertoires regulated by pairing.
Pairing of adult Schistosoma mansoni parasites initiates a cascade of events including mating and egg production that ultimately leads to immuno-pathological lesions during schistosomiasis. To identify genes associated with this important biological process, we studied parasites isolated from single- versus mixed-sex cercariae-infected mice using DNA microarray analysis to uncover pair-regulated transcriptional profiles. We report that: (i) transcriptomes of parasites isolated from single-sex infections are significantly more complex than their mixed-sex counterparts; (ii) transcriptomes of single-sex males are distinct from mixed-sex males; and (iii) not all transcripts, previously hypothesized to be critical in female egg production, are regulated by pairing.
Fitzpatrick
Jennifer M
JM
University of Cambridge, Department of Pathology, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QP, UK.
Hoffmann
Karl F
KF
D000818:Animals; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000032:analysis*; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000502:physiology*; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000382:microbiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D018509:DNA, Helminth