Pennance Tom, Tennessen Jacob A, Spaan Johannie M, McQuistan Tammie J, Ogara George, Rawago Fredrick, Andiego Kennedy, Mulonga Boaz, Odhiambo Meredith, Mutuku Martin W, Mkoji Gerald M, Loker Eric S, Odiere Maurice R, Steinauer Michelle L
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific - Northwest, Western University of Health, Sciences, Lebanon, OR, USA.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 27;16(1):6918. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61760-8.
Schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, is transmitted by freshwater snails. Interruption of transmission will require novel vector-focused interventions. We performed a genome-wide association study of African snails, Biomphalaria sudanica, exposed to Schistosoma mansoni in an endemic area of high transmission in Kenya. Two snail genomic regions, SudRes1 and SudRes2, were significantly associated with snail resistance to schistosomes. SudRes1 includes receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatases while SudRes2 includes a class of leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptors, both comprising diverse extracellular binding domains suggestive of host-pathogen interaction. Resistant and susceptible haplotypes show numerous coding differences including presence/absence of entire genes. No loci previously tied to schistosome resistance in a neotropical snail species showed any association with compatibility suggesting that loci involved in the resistance of African vectors are distinct. Snail ancestry was also strongly correlated with parasite compatibility. These results will inform future efforts to predict and manipulate immunity of a major schistosome vector.
血吸虫病是一种被忽视的热带疾病，通过淡水蜗牛传播。阻断传播需要新型的以病媒为重点的干预措施。我们对肯尼亚高传播流行地区接触曼氏血吸虫的非洲蜗牛——苏丹双脐螺进行了全基因组关联研究。两个蜗牛基因组区域SudRes1和SudRes2与蜗牛对血吸虫的抗性显著相关。SudRes1包含受体样蛋白酪氨酸磷酸酶，而SudRes2包含一类富含亮氨酸重复序列的G蛋白偶联受体，两者都包含多样的细胞外结合域，提示宿主与病原体的相互作用。抗性和易感单倍型显示出许多编码差异，包括整个基因的有无。先前在新热带蜗牛物种中与血吸虫抗性相关的基因座与相容性均无关联，这表明非洲病媒抗性相关的基因座是不同的。蜗牛谱系也与寄生虫相容性密切相关。这些结果将为未来预测和操纵主要血吸虫病媒免疫力的工作提供参考。
