RNA-seq reveals infection-induced gene expression changes in the snail intermediate host of the carcinogenic liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini

Prasopdee, Sattrachai, Sotillo, Javier, Tesana, Smarn, Laha, Thewarach, Kulsantiwong, Jutharat, Nolan, Matthew J., Loukas, Alex, and Cantacessi, Cinzia (2014) RNA-seq reveals infection-induced gene expression changes in the snail intermediate host of the carcinogenic liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8 (3). e2765. pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

Background: Bithynia siamensis goniomphalos is the snail intermediate host of the liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini, the leading cause of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) in the Greater Mekong sub-region of Thailand. Despite the severe public health impact of Opisthorchis-induced CCA, knowledge of the molecular interactions occurring between the parasite and its snail intermediate host is scant. The examination of differences in gene expression profiling between uninfected and O. viverrini-infected B. siamensis goniomphalos could provide clues on fundamental pathways involved in the regulation of snail-parasite interplay.

Methodology/Principal Findings:Using high-throughput (Illumina) sequencing and extensive bioinformatic analyses, we characterized the transcriptomes of uninfected and O. viverrini-infected B. siamensis goniomphalos. Comparative analyses of gene expression profiling allowed the identification of 7,655 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), associated to 43 distinct biological pathways, including pathways associated with immune defense mechanisms against parasites. Amongst the DEGs with immune functions, transcripts encoding distinct proteases displayed the highest down-regulation in Bithynia specimens infected by O. viverrini; conversely, transcription of genes encoding heat-shock proteins and actins was significantly up-regulated in parasite-infected snails when compared to the uninfected counterparts.

Conclusions/Significance:The present study lays the foundation for functional studies of genes and gene products potentially involved in immune-molecular mechanisms implicated in the ability of the parasite to successfully colonize its snail intermediate host. The annotated dataset provided herein represents a ready-to-use molecular resource for the discovery of molecular pathways underlying susceptibility and resistance mechanisms of B. siamensis goniomphalos to O. viverrini and for comparative analyses with pulmonate snail intermediate hosts of other platyhelminths including schistosomes.

Item ID: 32840
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1935-2735
Additional Information:

© 2014 Prasopdee et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC), Thailand Research Fund, TRF, National Research University Project of Thailand, NRUPT, Khon Kaen University
Projects and Grants: TRF Grant No. PHD/0027/2551, NRUPT SHeP-GM
Date Deposited: 20 May 2014 00:27
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology > 060102 Bioinformatics @ 40%
11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1101 Medical Biochemistry and Metabolomics > 110105 Medical Biochemistry: Nucleic Acids @ 10%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0603 Evolutionary Biology > 060307 Host-Parasite Interactions @ 50%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 25%
92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920109 Infectious Diseases @ 75%
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