Schistosome/mollusk: genetic compatibility

Abstract

AbSTRAcT. Schistosomiasis remains one of the most prevalent parasitic infections and has significant economic and public health consequences in many developing countries. Economic development and improvement in standard of living in these countries are dependent on the elimination of this odious disease. For the control of Schistosomiasis, understanding the host/parasite association is important, since the host parasite relationship is often complex and since questions remain concerning the susceptibility of snails to infection by respective trematodes and their specificity and suitability as hosts for continued parasite development. Thus, the long term aim of this research is to learn more about the genetic basis of the snail/parasite relationship with the hope of finding novel ways to disrupt the transmission of this disease. In the current research, genetic variability among susceptible and resistant strains within and between Biomphalaria glabrata and B. tenagophila was investigated using RAPD-PCR. The results indicate great genetic variations within the two snail species using three different primers 519 ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 7 (2): 518-526 (2008) Schistosome/mollusk: genetic compatibility (intrapopulational variations), while specimens from the same snail species showed few individual differences between the susceptible and resistant strains (interpopulational variation).

Genetic differences between strains of Biomphalaria glabrata (Planorbidae) that are susceptible and unsusceptible to schistosomiasis

“…DNA was extracted from the tip of the head foot region of individual snails (albino and pigmented strains), using lysis buffer containing 2% CTAB (Winnepenninckx et al, 1993;Abdel-Hamid et al, 1999) and incubated with proteinase K (2 mg/mL) for 2 h, followed by extraction with phenol, phenol:chloroform (1:1), chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (24:1) and incubation with ribonuclease A (350 mg/mL) (Spada et al, 2002, Oliveira et al, 2008. DNA was precipitated by adding isopropanol (2:3, v/v) and leaving overnight at room temperature.…”

Identification of differentially expressed genes in Oncomelania hupensis chronically infected with Schistosoma japonicum

“…Over the past 10 years, many studies which have sought to decipher the schistosome-snail interaction have made much advance through proteomics (Vergote et al, 2005;Bouchut et al, 2006;Guillou et al, 2007a;Roger et al, 2008), functional genomics (Miller et al, 2001;Raghavan et al, 2003;Nowak et al, 2004;Hertel et al, 2005;Lockyer et al, 2007a;Adema et al, 2010;Ittiprasert et al, 2010), and population genetics (Brandt et al, 2007;Sandland et al, 2007;Oliveira et al, 2008). Although the current understanding of schistosome and snail biology during the infection process is still incomplete, especially regarding the snail immunity (Bayne, 2009), a variety of molecules have been identified and may be associated with schistosome survival or snail defense mechanisms, including certain proteolytic enzymes such as cysteine proteases (Lodes and Yoshino, 1989;Guillou et al, 2007a;Humphries and Yoshino, 2008;Ittiprasert et al, 2010), receptor recognition molecules (e.g., fibrinogen-related proteins (FREPs) and lectin (Johnston and Yoshino, 2001;Hertel et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 2007;Ittiprasert et al, 2010)), molecules related to cell adhesion and signaling pathways (Goodall et al, 2006;Lockyer et al, 2007b;Zhang et al, 2007;Ittiprasert et al, 2010), and immune regulation-like epitope mimics (Plows et al, 2005;Lockyer et al, 2007b;Lehr et al, 2008).…”

Identification of various Biomphalaria alexandrina strains collected from five Egyptian governorates using RAPD and species-specific PCR techniques

“…Also, Abdel-Hamid et al [7] used RAPD analysis for the study of susceptible and resistant B. tenagophila to S. mansoni. Oliveira et al [22] used similar technique (RAPD-PCR) to investigate the genetic variability among susceptible and resistant strains within and between B. glabrata and B. tenagophila. They indicated great genetic variations within the two snail species using three different primers, while specimens from the same snail species showed few individual differences between the susceptible and resistant strains.…”

“…M. Mohamed et al / American Journal of Molecular Biology 1 (2011) [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] …”