title: Effects of protein extract from head-foot tissue of Oncomelania hupensis on the growth and gene expression of mother sporocysts of Schistosoma japonicum.
abstract: Oncomelania hupensis is the intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum. In the present study, we investigated the effects of protein extracts from head-foot or gland tissue of O. hupensis on mother sporocysts of S. japonicum cultured in vitro. In the presence of head-foot protein extract of snails from the native province Hunan, in-vitro-transformed mother sporocysts presented not only a longer survival time and stronger motility, but also a bigger size than parasites cultured with protein extracts of glands of the same snail or head-foot tissue of a non-native snail from the Hubei province. Using suppression subtractive hybridization, two subtractive libraries were constructed on the basis of RNA of sporocysts cultured with or without native snail head-foot protein extract. A number of 31 transcripts were found to be up-regulated. Sequence analyses revealed that they represented genes involved among others in metabolic process, electron transport chain, response to chemical stimulus, and oxidation-reduction processes. Opposite to that 20 down-regulated transcripts were among others related to pseudouridine synthesis, RNA processing, and ribosome biogenesis. The differential expression of three of these transcripts, encoding cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2 (Cox2), NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ND1), and dyskeratosis congenita 1 protein (DKC1), were confirmed by real-time PCR. The promoted development and the differential gene expression of cultured sporocysts under the influence of head-foot protein extract of native O. hupensis implied not only its ability to improve in vitro culture conditions for intramolluscan stages, it may also represent a priming result with respect to the identification and characterization of factors involved in the parasite-host interplay between S. japonicum and O. hupensis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
authors.forename: Jun Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Qin Ping
authors.initials: QP
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zhen Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.forename: Christoph G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Grevelding
authors.forename: Ming Sen
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Hui Fen
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002457:Cell Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000737:chemistry*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006257:Head; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D033661:Oocysts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D011506:Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D002457:Cell Extracts; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D011506:Proteins