Schistosoma_mansoni_miracidia_single_cell_RNAseq
This study aims to characterise the transcriptomes of the cell types that make up the miracidium larva of the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni. This larva is made up of 200 cells, and it provides a simple and tangible system to understand how this parasite integrates environmental information to effect behaviours that optimise it's chance of finding and infecting a host - in the case of the miracidium- a freshwater snail. This data will enable us to identify distinct cells types, including nerves, muscles, secretory glands, ciliary plates for swimming, stem cells and protonephridia, as well as cell-specific signalling networks involved in sensory biology. We will use this data to determine where these cells types sit in relation to each other by using whole mount multiplexed in situ hybridisation. We will develop a cell type atlas for this larva that will be used to understand the function of the genes and cells involved in infection biology.