An atlas of the germ ball-cercaria-schistosomulum transition in Schistosoma mansoni, using confocal microscopy and in situ hybridisation.

ABSTRACT: Schistosomes are complex platyhelminth parasites with a genome comprising ∼12,000 protein-coding genes, three distinct generations, and at least seven distinct phenotypes. We chart here cellular and gene expression changes associated with development of the cercaria, in the intramolluscan daughter sporocyst, and its transformation into the skin stage schistosomulum upon infection of the mammalian host. We describe the morphology of the early daughter sporocyst and the increasing complexity of cellular organisation in germ balls as they rapidly develop into cercariae. We show how individual myocytes differentiate and combine to create the complex musculature of the head capsule and body wall. In situ hybridisation reveals that some transcripts encoding the secretory proteins, release

SUBMITTER: Parker-Manuel SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9062357 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature