A single-cell atlas of the miracidium larva of <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> 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 dive

SUBMITTER: Attenborough T 

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

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature