Snail microbiota and snail–schistosome interactions: axenic and gnotobiotic technologies

The microbiota in the intermediate snail hosts of human schistosomes can significantly affect host biology. For decades, researchers have developed axenic snails to manipulate the symbiotic microbiota. This review summarizes the characteristics of symbiotic microbes in intermediate snail hosts and describes their interactions with snails, affecting snail growth, development, and parasite transmission ability. We focus on advances in axenic and gnotobiotic technologies for studying snail-microbe interactions and exploring the role of microbiota in snail susceptibility to Schistosoma infection. We discuss the challenges related to axenic and gnotobiotic snails, possible solutions to address these challenges, and future research directions to deepen our understanding of snail-microbiota interactions, with the aim to develop microbiota-based strategies for controlling snail populations and reducing their competence in transmitting parasites.