Transcriptome of juvenile Biomphalaria glabrata snails exposed to Schistosoma mansoni at permissive (25oC) or non-permissive (32oC) temperatures

Plasticity in the susceptibility of Biomphalaria glabrata juvenile snail stocks, BS90, was examined in Schistosoma mansoni-exposed snails cultured either at 25oC (permissive temperature) or 32oC (non-permissive). Analysis of transcriptomes from snails cultured at the different temperatures revealed that whereas stress related transcripts dominated the transcriptome of susceptible BS-90 juvenile snails at 32oC, transcripts encoding proteins with a role in epigenetics, were highly expressed in those cultured at 25oC. Follow-up experiments showed that an interplay of BgPiwi and nimbus is involved in the epigenetic modulation of the plasticity of snail resistance/susceptibility in the schistosome-snail host relationship.

本研究针对感染曼氏血吸虫（Schistosoma mansoni）的光滑双脐螺（Biomphalaria glabrata）BS90幼螺种群的易感性可塑性展开探究：将该种群分别置于25℃（允许培养温度）与32℃（非允许培养温度）下进行体外培养。对不同温度下培养的螺类样本进行转录组分析后发现，32℃培养的易感型BS90幼螺转录组以应激相关转录本为主，而25℃培养的幼螺转录组中，表观遗传学（epigenetics）相关蛋白编码转录本的表达量显著升高。后续实验证实，BgPiwi与nimbus的相互作用参与了血吸虫-螺类宿主相互作用关系中螺类抗/易感可塑性的表观遗传调控过程。