A Tail of Two Structures: Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of Cercarial Heads and Tails of Schistosome Worms

Abstract Schistosomes require both molluscan and mammalian hosts for development. The larval stage, cercaria, exits the intermediate snail host and must swim to identify and invade the definitive mammalian host. The cercaria has two macrostructures, the head and the tail. The tail is lost after host invasion, whereas the head develops into a sexually dimorphic adult worm. Translation in the cercaria differs in each macrostructure with higher levels of translation in cercarial tails and little to no translational activity in cercarial heads. We compared the transcriptome and proteome of the cercarial head and tail and observed stark differences between the two macrostructures. We identified unique and differentially expressed transcripts and proteins, including multiple ribosomal components expressed in higher levels in tails than in heads, which may explain the differences in translation levels between heads and tails and reflect the weak correlation between transcription and translation in infectious cercarial heads and tails.