Strongyloides stercoralis 16S rRNA Amplicon sequencing

Skin-penetrating nematodes of the genus Strongyloides infect over 600 million people, posing a major global health burden. Their life cycle includes both a parasitic and free-living generation. During the parasitic generation, infective third-stage larvae (iL3s) actively engage in host seeking. During the free-living generation, the nematodes develop and reproduce on host feces. At different points of their life cycle, Strongyloides species encounter bacteria from various ecological niches. However, the microbial interactions between Strongyloides and bacteria remain uncharacterized. We first investigated the microbiome of the human parasite Strongyloides stercoralis using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found that S. stercoralis free-living adults, but not iL3s, have a distinct microbiome, suggesting that the adults selectively associate with specific bacteria.