Background: Biomphalaria glabrata is an intermediate snail host for Schistosoma mansoni, one of the important schistosomes infecting man. B. glabrata/S. mansoni provides a useful model system for investigating the intimate interactions between host and parasite. Examining differential gene expression between S. mansoni-exposed schistosome-resistant and susceptible snail lines will identify genes and pathways that may be involved in snail defences.

Six microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized in Bulinus globosus, a freshwater snail with a wide distribution throughout sub‐Saharan Africa. Bulinus globosus is an intermediate host of Schistosoma haematobium, the causative agent of human urinary schistosomiasis. Microsatellites were tested using 32 snails from four populations collected from Pemba and Unguja islands of Zanzibar. The microsatellite loci displayed relatively low levels of variation, with between two and five alleles per locus. FST estimates indicate that gene flow is low, as has previously been suggested for other species of Bulinus.