Temporal transcriptome change of Oncomelania hupensis revealed by Schistosoma japonicum invasion

BACKGROUND: The freshwater snail Oncomelania hupensis is the obligate intermediate host for Schistosoma japonicum in China. Transcriptomic examination of snail–schistosome interactions can provide valuable information of host response at physiological and immune levels. METHODS: To investigate S. japonicum-induced changes in O. hupensis gene expression, we utilized high-throughput sequencing to identify transcripts that were differentially expressed between infected snails and their uninfected controls at two key time-point, Day 7 and Day 30 after challenge. Time-series transcriptomic profiles were analyzed using R package DESeq 2, followed by GO, KEGG and (weighted gene correlation network analysis) WGCNA analysis to elucidate and identify important molecular mechanism, and subsequently understand host–parasite relationship. The identified unigenes was verified by bioinformatics and real-time PCR. Possible adaptation molecular mechanisms of O. hupensis to S. japonicum challenge were proposed. RESULTS: Transcriptomic analyses of O. hupensis by S. japonicum invasion yielded billion reads including 92,144 annotated transcripts. Over 5000 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by pairwise comparisons of infected libraries from two time points to uninfected libraries in O. hupensis. In total, 6032 gene ontology terms and 149 KEGG pathways were enriched. After the snails were infected with S. japonicum on Day 7 and Day 30, DEGs were shown to be involved in many key processes associated with biological regulation and innate immunity pathways. Gene expression patterns differed after exposure to S. japonicum. Using WGCNA, 16 modules were identified. Module-trait analysis identified that a module involved in RNA binding, ribosome, translation, mRNA processing, and structural constituent of ribosome were strongly associated with S. japonicum invasion. Many of the genes from enriched KEGG pathways were involved in lysosome, spliceosome and ribosome, indicating that S. japonicum invasion may activate the regulation of ribosomes and immune response to infection in O. hupensis. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis provided a temporally dynamic gene expression pattern of O. hupensis by S. japonicum invasion. The identification of gene candidates serves as a foundation for future investigations of S. japonicum infection. Additionally, major DEGs expression patterns and putative key regulatory pathways would provide useful information to construct gene regulatory networks between host-parasite crosstalk.