title: The tegumental surface membranes of Schistosoma mansoni are enriched in parasite-specific phospholipid species.
abstract: The complex surface structure of adult Schistosoma mansoni, the tegument, is essential for survival of the parasite. This tegument is syncytial and is covered by two closely-apposed lipid bilayers that form the interactive surface with the host. In order to identify parasite-specific phospholipids present in the tegument, the species compositions of the major glycerophospholipid classes, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol, including lysophospholipid species, were analysed in adult S. mansoni worms, isolated tegumental membranes and hamster blood cells. It was shown that there are large differences in species composition in all four phospholipid classes between the membranes of S. mansoni and those of the host blood cells. The species compositions of phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylcholine were strikingly different in the tegument compared with the whole worm. The tegumental membranes are especially enriched in lysophospholipids, predominantly eicosenoic acid (20:1)-containing lyso-phosphatidylserine and lyso-phosphatidylethanolamine species. Furthermore, the tegument was strongly enriched in phosphatidylcholine that contained 5-octadecenoic acid, an unusual fatty acid that is not present in the host. As we have shown previously that lysophospholipids from schistosomes affect the parasite-host interaction, excretion of these tegument-specific phospholipid species was examined in vitro and in vivo. Our experiments demonstrated that these lysophospholipids are not significantly secreted during in vitro incubations and are not detectable in peripheral blood of infected hosts. However, these analyses demonstrated a substantial decrease in PI content of blood plasma from schistosome-infected hamsters, which might indicate that schistosomes influence exosome formation by the host.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Retra
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: deWalick
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yazdanbakhsh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Aloysius G M
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tielens
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jos F H M
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Brouwers
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.vanhellemond@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Jaap J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: van Hellemond
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D034582:Integumentary System; D055827:Integumentary System Physiological Phenomena; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000378:metabolism*; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D010743:Phospholipids
keywords: Eicosenoic acid; Ether-phospholipid; Host–parasite interaction; Lyso-phospholipid; Schistosomiasis; Tegument