Genetics basis of praziquantel resistance in Schistosoma mansoni (RNA-seq on selected populations)

Praziquantel (PZQ) is the only drug available to treat schistosomiasis. Ongoing massive drug administration program may induce selection for PZQ resistance in natural schistosome populations. A previous genome-wide association study using a laboratory schistosome population (SmLE-PZQ-R) identify a quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated to PZQ resistance (BioProject PRJNA699326). Using a marker present in this QTL, we performed a marker assisted selection to derived two populations from the original SmLE-PZQ-R population: one population enriched in allele associated with resistance (SmLE-PZQ-ER) and another one enriched in allele associated with sensitivity (SmLE-PZQ-ES). To better understand the mechanism of resistance, we performed transcriptomic analysis on juvenile (all naturally resistant to PZQ) and adult worms from these two populations, including for both stages males and females.