Transcriptional profiling of the oesophageal gland region of male worms of Schistosoma mansoni

- Schistosoma mansoni oesophageal gland was laser-microdissected.
- Microarray analysis of the dissected tissue was compared to whole parasite.
- 122 genes were differentially up-regulated in S. mansoni male oesophageal tissue.
- Genes associated with haemoglobin digestion and lipid metabolism were up-regulated.
- Micro-exon genes associated with parasitism were also among the up-regulated genes.

The intestinal tract of schistosomes opens at the mouth and leads into the foregut or oesophageal region that is lined with syncytium continuous with the apical cytoplasm of the tegument. The oesophagus is surrounded by a specialised gland, the oesophageal gland. This gland releases materials into the lumen of the oesophagus and the region is thought to initiate the lysis of erythrocytes and neutralisation of immune effectors of the host. The oesophageal region is present in the early invasive schistosomulum, a stage potentially targetable by anti-schistosome vaccines. We used a 44k oligonucleotide microarray to identify highly up-regulated genes in microdissected frozen sections of the oesophageal gland of male worms of S. mansoni. We show that 122 genes were up-regulated 2-fold or higher in the oesophageal gland compared with a whole male worm tissue control. The enriched genes included several associated with lipid metabolism and transmembrane transport as well as some micro-exon genes. Since the oesophageal gland is important in the initiation of digestion and the fact that it develops early after invasion of the mammalian host, further study of selected highly up-regulated functionally important genes in this tissue may reveal new anti-schistosome intervention targets for schistosomiasis control.

There were 122 genes, including those associated with lipid metabolism, haemoglobin digestion and some micro-exon genes up regulated in the oesophageal gland region.211