The growing repertoire of putative pathogen interaction genes in the Biomphalaria glabrata vs Schistosoma mansoni system
- 1Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, United States of America
- 2Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Abstract
Schistosomiasis is major neglected tropical disease of humans that is caused by trematodes in the genus Schistosoma. Humans are infected during contact with water in which schistosomes are being shed from their intermediate hosts, freshwater snails. Snail control is effective at reducing transmission, but can be expensive and ecologically problematic. Therefore, there is substantial interest in understanding the genetic mechanisms behind variation in snail resistance to infection by schistosomes, with the goal of leveraging that information to reduce transmission at the snail stage. Biomphalaria glabrata is an important host snail for transmission of S. mansoni in the New World. Here we reanalyzed an older Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) dataset from Biomphalaria glabrata snails challenged by the trematode, Schistosoma mansoni. We identified two new regions of association with resistance to infection, named LG5R and LG11L. LG11L contains a cluster of genes for a diverse set of secreted lectins, which could be involved in some type of recognition. LG5R contains a cluster of genes for what appear to be membrane-bound receptors. These genes are very similar to those identified in an adjacent genomic region by a recent GWAS on the African snail, B. sudanica challenged by S. mansoni. Clusters of genes for single-pass transmembrane proteins also characterize two other genomic regions of association with resistance to S. mansoni that were previously described for B. glabrata (the PTC1/GRC and PTC2 regions). We hypothesize that the proteins coded for in such clusters of genes are involved in some type of matching polymorphism that may explain the ubiquitous parasite-population by snail-population interaction in compatibility that characterizes the B. glabrata-S. mansoni system. We discuss our results in light of the state of the field of genome-wide mapping studies on Biomphalaria sp., and discuss what types of loci found to date would be the best targets for reducing transmission in natural populations. Author summary: Schistosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease of humans that is caused by trematodes in the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomes require aquatic snails as obligate intermediate hosts. Humans become infected by contact with water in which snails are shedding parasites. Recent efforts have focused on understanding the genetic basis of variation in resistance of snail hosts to infection by the parasite. In this work, we characterized two new genomic regions in the host snail, Biomphalaria glabrata, at which genetic variation controls resistance to infection by S. mansoni. One region contains a cluster of genes for membrane-bound receptors, while the other contains a diverse array of genes for secreted lectins. We hypothesize that genes in both regions are involved in recognition of the parasite. We compare these results to those of other mapping studies that have turned up other clusters of genes that appear to have similar functions. We discuss what mapping studies to date have revealed about the genetic basis of resistance in snails and consider the types of loci that would be the best targets for making snails resistant to infection by schistosomes.
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BibTeX
@article{calvelo2026growing,
title = {{The growing repertoire of putative pathogen interaction genes in the Biomphalaria glabrata vs Schistosoma mansoni system}},
author = {Javier Calvelo and Stephanie R. Bollmann and Jacob A. Tennessen and Michael S. Blouin},
journal = {PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0014803},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014803},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The growing repertoire of putative pathogen interaction genes in the Biomphalaria glabrata vs Schistosoma mansoni system
AU - Javier Calvelo
AU - Stephanie R. Bollmann
AU - Jacob A. Tennessen
AU - Michael S. Blouin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014803
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014803
AB - Schistosomiasis is major neglected tropical disease of humans that is caused by trematodes in the genus Schistosoma. Humans are infected during contact with water in which schistosomes are being shed from their intermediate hosts, freshwater snails. Snail control is effective at reducing transmission, but can be expensive and ecologically problematic. Therefore, there is substantial interest in understanding the genetic mechanisms behind variation in snail resistance to infection by schistosomes, with the goal of leveraging that information to reduce transmission at the snail stage. Biomphalaria glabrata is an important host snail for transmission of S. mansoni in the New World. Here we reanalyzed an older Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) dataset from Biomphalaria glabrata snails challenged by the trematode, Schistosoma mansoni. We identified two new regions of association with resistance to infection, named LG5R and LG11L. LG11L contains a cluster of genes for a diverse set of secreted lectins, which could be involved in some type of recognition. LG5R contains a cluster of genes for what appear to be membrane-bound receptors. These genes are very similar to those identified in an adjacent genomic region by a recent GWAS on the African snail, B. sudanica challenged by S. mansoni. Clusters of genes for single-pass transmembrane proteins also characterize two other genomic regions of association with resistance to S. mansoni that were previously described for B. glabrata (the PTC1/GRC and PTC2 regions). We hypothesize that the proteins coded for in such clusters of genes are involved in some type of matching polymorphism that may explain the ubiquitous parasite-population by snail-population interaction in compatibility that characterizes the B. glabrata-S. mansoni system. We discuss our results in light of the state of the field of genome-wide mapping studies on Biomphalaria sp., and discuss what types of loci found to date would be the best targets for reducing transmission in natural populations. Author summary: Schistosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease of humans that is caused by trematodes in the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomes require aquatic snails as obligate intermediate hosts. Humans become infected by contact with water in which snails are shedding parasites. Recent efforts have focused on understanding the genetic basis of variation in resistance of snail hosts to infection by the parasite. In this work, we characterized two new genomic regions in the host snail, Biomphalaria glabrata, at which genetic variation controls resistance to infection by S. mansoni. One region contains a cluster of genes for membrane-bound receptors, while the other contains a diverse array of genes for secreted lectins. We hypothesize that genes in both regions are involved in recognition of the parasite. We compare these results to those of other mapping studies that have turned up other clusters of genes that appear to have similar functions. We discuss what mapping studies to date have revealed about the genetic basis of resistance in snails and consider the types of loci that would be the best targets for making snails resistant to infection by schistosomes.
SN - 1935-2735
SN - 1935-2727
ER -