Ram D, Lantner F, Ziv E, Lardans V, Schechter I
Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1999 Mar 30;1453(3):412-6. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4439(99)00012-5.
Schistosomes are parasitic helminths with a complex life cycle in human and snail hosts. They express stage-specific genes that conceivably determine distinct properties of the parasite at different developmental stages. Here we report the stage-specific gene SmSPO-1, which is preferentially expressed in sporocysts residing in the snail host. The cDNA and the gene were cloned and sequenced. The cDNA, from cap site to the poly(A) addition site, is 498 bp long. It encodes a protein of 117 amino acids with a hydrophobic signal peptide of 18 residues, indicating that SmSPO-1 is a secreted or a membranal protein. In the gene the cDNA is split into four exons spread over 2.1 kb of chromosomal DNA.
