Project description:Key tissues of the adult female parasite involved in nutritional uptake and reproduction were examined using a novel gene discovery approach that combined laser microdissection microscopy and microarray analyses. Gastrodermis, vitelline glands and ovary were microdissected from unfixed, frozen sections of the Asian species, Schistosoma japonicum. Total RNA was isolated from the enriched tissue preparations and microarray analyses undertaken to generate tissue specific gene expression profiles.
Project description:Chinese and Philippine strains of the blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum present clear and distinctive phenotypes in areas of fecundity, pathology, drug sensitivity and immunology. Despite these differences large scale sequencing efforts have focused solely on Chinese mainland strain of the parasite. We have undertaken a comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH) approach to highlight some of the structural differences in the genome of two of the major geographical isolates of S. japonicum. We identified seven distinct regions of the S. japonicum genome that present differential CGH between Chinese and Philippine strains of the blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum, representing either deletion or duplication regions in the Philippine strain. Within these regions, genes that may be related to phenotypical differences are identified and discussed.
Project description:The gogal of this study is to use RNA-Seq to systematically investigate the dynamics of the liver transcriptome over Schistosoma japonicum infection.
