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Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

ABSTRACT: Seawater intrusion associated with decreasing groundwater levels and rising seawater levels may affect freshwater species and their parasites. While brackish water certainly impacts freshwater systems globally, its impact on disease transmission is largely unknown. This study examined the effect of artificial seawater on host-parasite interactions using a freshwater snail host, Biomphalaria alexandrina, and the human trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni. To evaluate the impact of increasing salinity on disease transmission four variables were analyzed: snail survival, snail reproduction, infection prevalence, and the survival of the parasite infective stage (cercariae). We found a decrease in snail survival, snail egg mass production, and snail infection prevalence as salinity increases. However, cercarial survival peaked at an intermediate salinity value. Our results suggest that seawater intrusion into freshwaters has the potential to decrease schistosome transmission to humans.

SUBMITTER: Yu A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8870500 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

Yu Ao A Vannatta J Trevor JT Gutierrez Stephanie O SO Minchella Dennis J DJ

PLoS neglected tropical diseases 20220224 2

Seawater intrusion associated with decreasing groundwater levels and rising seawater levels may affect freshwater species and their parasites. While brackish water certainly impacts freshwater systems globally, its impact on disease transmission is largely unknown. This study examined the effect of artificial seawater on host-parasite interactions using a freshwater snail host, Biomphalaria alexandrina, and the human trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni. To evaluate the impact of increasing sa ...[more]

PMID: 35202408

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Project description:BackgroundA central question in parasitology is why parasites mature and reproduce in some host species but not in others. Yet, a better understanding of the inability of parasites to complete their life cycles in less suitable hosts may hold clues for their control. To shed light on the molecular basis of parasite (non-)maturation, we analyzed transcriptomes of thorny-headed worms (Acanthocephala: Pomphorhynchus laevis), and compared developmentally arrested worms excised from European eel (Anguilla anguilla) to developmentally unrestricted worms from barbel (Barbus barbus).ResultsBased on 20 RNA-Seq datasets, we demonstrate that transcriptomic profiles are more similar between P. laevis males and females from eel than between their counterparts from barbel. Impairment of sexual phenotype development was reflected in gene ontology enrichment analyses of genes having differential transcript abundances. Genes having reproduction- and energy-related annotations were found to be affected by parasitizing either eel or barbel. According to this, the molecular machinery of male and female acanthocephalans from the eel is less tailored to reproduction and more to coping with the less suitable environment provided by this host. The pattern was reversed in their counterparts from the definitive host, barbel.ConclusionsComparative analysis of transcriptomes of developmentally arrested and reproducing parasites elucidates the challenges parasites encounter in hosts which are unsuitable for maturation and reproduction. By studying a gonochoric species, we were also able to highlight sex-specific traits. In fact, transcriptomic evidence for energy shortage in female acanthocephalans associates with their larger body size. Thus, energy metabolism and glycolysis should be promising targets for the treatment of acanthocephaliasis. Although inherently enabling a higher resolution in heterosexuals, the comparison of parasites from definitive hosts and less suitable hosts, in which the parasites merely survive, should be applicable to hermaphroditic helminths. This may open new perspectives in the control of other helminth pathogens of humans and livestock.

Project description:Parasites can cause severe host morbidity and threaten survival. As parasites are generally aggregated within certain host demographics, they are likely to affect a small proportion of the entire population, with specific hosts being at particular risk. However, little is known as to whether increased host mortality from parasitic causes is experienced by specific host demographics. Outside of theoretical studies, there is a paucity of literature concerning dynamics of parasite-associated host mortality. Empirical evidence mainly focuses on short-lived hosts or model systems, with data lacking from long-lived wild or semi-wild vertebrate populations. We investigated parasite-associated mortality utilizing a multigenerational database of mortality, health, and reproductive data for over 4,000 semi-captive timber elephants (Elephas maximus), with known causes of death for mortality events. We determined variation in mortality according to a number of host traits that are commonly associated with variation in parasitism within mammals: age, sex, and reproductive investment in females. We found that potentially parasite-associated mortality varied significantly across elephant ages, with individuals at extremes of lifespan (young and old) at highest risk. Mortality probability was significantly higher for males across all ages. Female reproducers experienced a lower probability of potentially parasite-associated mortality than females who did not reproduce at any investigated time frame. Our results demonstrate increased potentially parasite-associated mortality within particular demographic groups. These groups (males, juveniles, elderly adults) have been identified in other studies as susceptible to parasitism, stressing the need for further work investigating links between infection and mortality. Furthermore, we show variation between reproductive and non-reproductive females, with mothers being less at risk of potentially parasite mortality than nonreproducers.

Project description:IntroductionThe human blood fluke parasite Schistosoma mansoni relies on diverse mechanisms to adapt to its diverse environments and hosts. Epigenetic mechanisms play a central role in gene expression regulation, culminating in such adaptations. Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) promote posttranslational modifications, modulating the function of histones and non-histone targets. The coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase 1 (CARM1/PRMT4) is one of the S. mansoni proteins with the PRMT core domain.MethodsWe carried out in silico analyses to verify the expression of SmPRMTs in public datasets from different infection stages, single-sex versus mixed-worms, and cell types. The SmCARM1 function was evaluated by RNA interference. Gene expression levels were assessed, and phenotypic alterations were analyzed in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo.ResultsThe scRNAseq data showed that SmPRMTs expression is not enriched in any cell cluster in adult worms or schistosomula, except for Smcarm1 expression which is enriched in clusters of ambiguous cells and Smprmt1 in NDF+ neurons and stem/germinal cells from schistosomula. Smprmt1 is also enriched in S1 and late female germ cells from adult worms. After dsRNA exposure in vitro, we observed a Smcarm1 knockdown in schistosomula and adult worms, 83 and 69%, respectively. Smcarm1-knockdown resulted in reduced oviposition and no significant changes in the schistosomula or adult worm phenotypes. In vivo analysis after murine infection with Smcarm1 knocked-down schistosomula, showed no significant change in the number of worms recovered from mice, however, a significant reduction in the number of eggs recovered was detected. The ex vivo worms presented a significant decrease in the ovary area with a lower degree of cell differentiation, vitelline glands cell disorganization, and a decrease in the testicular lobe area. The worm tegument presented a lower number of tubercles, and the ventral sucker of the parasites presented a damaged tegument and points of detachment from the parasite body.DiscussionThis work brings the first functional characterization of SmCARM1 shedding light on its roles in S. mansoni biology and its potential as a drug target. Additional studies are necessary to investigate whether the reported effects of Smcarm1 knockdown are a consequence of the SmCARM1-mediated methylation of histone tails involved in DNA packaging or other non-histone proteins.

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Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

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Opportunity or catastrophe? effect of sea salt on host-parasite survival and reproduction.

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