S__mansoni_male_and_female_adult_worm_reproductive_organs_pre__and_post_pairing___Liberia_genome_reference. S__mansoni_male_and_female_adult_worm_reproductive_organs_pre__and_post_pairing___Liberia_genome_reference

Schistosomes are blood dwelling digenean trematodes that mature as adults in the intestinal or urinary veins, predominantly of mammals. Adult female Schistosomes produce eggs of which approximately 40% fail to pass into faeces or urine (species-dependent) but are dispersed by the blood stream into different organs where they provoke severe inflammation. This parasitic infection is known as schistosomiasis and considered by the WHO as the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease, next only to malaria, with hundreds of millions infected worldwide. As the eggs represent the causative pathogenic agents, the understanding of egg forming processes, and therefore of the schistosomal reproductive biology in general, is of fundamental interest. Additionally the differences between immature (pre-mating) and mature (post-mating) adult worms are of significant interest; adults only reach maturity upon mating. A novel method has been developed consisting of a combined detergent/protease treatment ("stripping"), which leads to the successive degradation of the tegument and muscle fibres, finally allowing the preparation of gonads (ovary, testes, vitellarium) in a pure state. RNA-Seq of gonad-specific cellular material will help to unravel signal transduction cascades involved in e.g. gametogenesis and/or vitellogenesis. This project aims to characterize the transcriptome profiles of immature and mature adult ovaries and adult testes.