Hyperdiverse gene cluster in snail host conveys resistance to human schistosome parasites

PLoS Genetics
Jacob A TennessenMichael S Blouin

Abstract

Schistosomiasis, a neglected global pandemic, may be curtailed by blocking transmission of the parasite via its intermediate hosts, aquatic snails. Elucidating the genetic basis of snail-schistosome interaction is a key to this strategy. Here we map a natural parasite-resistance polymorphism from a Caribbean population of the snail Biomphalaria glabrata. In independent experimental evolution lines, RAD genotyping shows that the same genomic region responds to selection for resistance to the parasite Schistosoma mansoni. A dominant allele in this region conveys an 8-fold decrease in the odds of infection. Fine-mapping and RNA-Seq characterization reveal a <1Mb region, the Guadeloupe Resistance Complex (GRC), with 15 coding genes. Seven genes are single-pass transmembrane proteins with putative immunological roles, most of which show strikingly high nonsynonymous divergence (5-10%) among alleles. High linkage disequilibrium among three intermediate-frequency (>25%) haplotypes across the GRC, a significantly non-neutral pattern, suggests that balancing selection maintains diversity at the GRC. Thus, the GRC resembles immune gene complexes seen in other taxa and is likely involved in parasite recognition. The GRC is a potential tar...Continue Reading

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA268191
PRJNA264063
PRJNA268208

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
genotyping
RNA-Seq
the
transfection
genetic modification
transgenic

Software Mentioned

DnaSP
custom Perl scripts
Stacks
TMHMM
BWA
Jellyfish
BLAST
Jpred3
ABySS
Scaffold4

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