Dataset Information

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of Schistosoma mansoni reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

ABSTRACT: Schistosoma mansoni is a parasitic flatworm that causes the major neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis. The miracidium is the first larval stage of the life cycle. It swims and infects a freshwater snail, transforms into a mother sporocyst, where its stem cells generate daughter sporocysts that give rise to human-infective cercariae larvae. To understand the miracidium at cellular and molecular levels, we created a whole-body atlas of its ~365 cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing identified 19 transcriptionally distinct cell clusters. In situ hybridisation of tissue-specific genes revealed that 93% of the cells in the larva are somatic (57% neural, 19% muscle, 13% epidermal or tegument, 2% parenchyma, and 2% protonephridia) and 7% are stem. Whereas neurons represent the most diverse somatic cell types, trajectory analysis of the two main stem cell populations indicates that one of them is the origin of the tegument lineage and the other likely contains pluripotent cells. Furthermore, unlike the somatic cells, each of these stem populations shows sex-biased transcriptional signatures suggesting a cell-type-specific gene dosage compensation for sex chromosome-linked loci. The miracidium represents a simple developmental stage with which to gain a fundamental understanding of the molecular biology and spatial architecture of schistosome cells.

SUBMITTER: Attenborough T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11349301 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

Attenborough Teresa T Rawlinson Kate A KA Diaz Soria Carmen L CL Ambridge Kirsty K Sankaranarayanan Geetha G Graham Jennie J Cotton James A JA Doyle Stephen R SR Rinaldi Gabriel G Berriman Matthew M

eLife 20240827

<i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> is a parasitic flatworm that causes the major neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis. The miracidium is the first larval stage of the life cycle. It swims and infects a freshwater snail, transforms into a mother sporocyst, where its stem cells generate daughter sporocysts that give rise to human-infective cercariae larvae. To understand the miracidium at cellular and molecular levels, we created a whole-body atlas of its ~365 cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing ident ...[more]

PMID: 39190022

Similar Datasets

Project description:The draft nuclear genome sequence of the snail-transmitted, dimorphic, parasitic, platyhelminth Schistosoma mansoni revealed eight genes encoding proteins that contain the Universal Stress Protein (USP) domain. Schistosoma mansoni is a causative agent of human schistosomiasis, a severe and debilitating Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) of poverty, which is endemic in at least 76 countries. The availability of the genome sequences of Schistosoma species presents opportunities for bioinformatics and genomics analyses of associated gene families that could be targets for understanding schistosomiasis ecology, intervention, prevention and control. Proteins with the USP domain are known to provide bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists and plants with the ability to respond to diverse environmental stresses. In this research investigation, the functional annotations of the USP genes and predicted nucleotide and protein sequences were initially verified. Subsequently, sequence clusters and distinctive features of the sequences were determined. A total of twelve ligand binding sites were predicted based on alignment to the ATP-binding universal stress protein from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii. In addition, six USP sequences showed the presence of ATP-binding motif residues indicating that they may be regulated by ATP. Public domain gene expression data and RT-PCR assays confirmed that all the S. mansoni USP genes were transcribed in at least one of the developmental life cycle stages of the helminth. Six of these genes were up-regulated in the miracidium, a free-swimming stage that is critical for transmission to the snail intermediate host. It is possible that during the intra-snail stages, S. mansoni gene transcripts for universal stress proteins are low abundant and are induced to perform specialized functions triggered by environmental stressors such as oxidative stress due to hydrogen peroxide that is present in the snail hemocytes. This report serves to catalyze the formation of a network of researchers to understand the function and regulation of the universal stress proteins encoded in genomes of schistosomes and their snail intermediate hosts.

Dataset Information

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of Schistosoma mansoni reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

Publications

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

Dataset Information

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of Schistosoma mansoni reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

Publications

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of &lt;i&gt;Schistosoma mansoni&lt;/i&gt; reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets

A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> reveals cell types, developmental pathways, and tissue architecture.