Quantitative ethology of schistosome miracidia characterizes a conserved snail peptide that inhibits host recognition.

ABSTRACT: Over 700 million people are at risk of contracting schistosomiasis due to regular exposure to freshwater sources where infected snails, the obligate intermediate hosts of schistosomes, are endemic. Although mass drug administration of praziquantel effectively controls the disease in most regions, achieving elimination will require reducing populations of infected snails that shed the human-infective larval stage. Considerable research effort has focused on parasite development and immunological responses after snail penetration, but comparatively little is known about the molecular and behavioral host seeking events that precede it, primarily due to technical and physical constraints. To address this gap, we developed a custom imaging and computational system for tracking and screening sch

SUBMITTER: Horejsi RV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12704881 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature