title: Transcriptional profiling of the oesophageal gland region of male worms of Schistosoma mansoni.
abstract: The intestinal tract of schistosomes opens at the mouth and leads into the foregut or oesophageal region that is lined with syncytium continuous with the apical cytoplasm of the tegument. The oesophagus is surrounded by a specialised gland, the oesophageal gland. This gland releases materials into the lumen of the oesophagus and the region is thought to initiate the lysis of erythrocytes and neutralisation of immune effectors of the host. The oesophageal region is present in the early invasive schistosomulum, a stage potentially targetable by anti-schistosome vaccines. We used a 44k oligonucleotide microarray to identify highly up-regulated genes in microdissected frozen sections of the oesophageal gland of male worms of S. mansoni. We show that 122 genes were up-regulated 2-fold or higher in the oesophageal gland compared with a whole male worm tissue control. The enriched genes included several associated with lipid metabolism and transmembrane transport as well as some micro-exon genes. Since the oesophageal gland is important in the initiation of digestion and the fact that it develops early after invasion of the mammalian host, further study of selected highly up-regulated functionally important genes in this tissue may reveal new anti-schistosome intervention targets for schistosomiasis control.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia; QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia. Electronic address: sujeevi.nawaratna@qimrberghofer.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sujeevi S K
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Nawaratna
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Geoffrey N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Gobert
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Charlene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia; QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia; School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kelantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Candy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chuah
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Donald P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McManus
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus, Gatton, Qld 4343, Australia; QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 300 Herston Road, Herston, Qld 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Malcolm K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000469:parasitology*
chemical_list: D015801:Helminth Proteins
keywords: Microarray; Microdissection; Oesophageal gland; Schistosoma