Schistosome life-cycle expression profiling using a full-transcriptome DNA mocroarray. (360G-Wellcome-078317_Z_05_Z)

Schistosomes undergo a complex developmental lifecycle inhabiting two different hosts and alternating between free-living and parasitic forms. Studying when gene products are expressed will contribute to a greater biological understanding of this major pathogen useful in the identification of novel chemotherapeutic- and vaccine candidates. Although recent characterization of this helminth's transcriptome has yielded putative evidence related to the expression of approximately 13, 000 S. mansoni gene products, these estimates were based solely on comparative EST numerical profiling. As a more accurate measurement of relative RNA abundance, we recently profiled greater than 50% of this parasite's transcriptome using our well-characterized oligonucleotide DNA microarrays. While this important preliminary study provided semi-quantitative information related to the expression of greater than 7, 000 gene products, we still are lacking data related to the remaining 7, 000 or so transcribed sequences. In this grant proposal, we therefore want to extend and advance these significant preliminary findings by focusing on two specific aims: 1) develop an updated and near complete transcriptome long-oligonucleotide DNA microarray and 2) profile this DNA microarray with seventeen different schistosome life-stages/samples.