Gene expression profile of Clonorchis sinensis metacercariae

Clonorchis sinensis develop through miracidium, sporocyst, redia, cercaria, and metacercaria stages before becoming egg-laying adult flukes. The authors undertook this analysis of gene expression profiles during developmental stages to increase our understanding of the biology of C. sinensis and of host-parasite relationships. From a C. sinensis metacercariae complementary deoxyribonucleic acid library, 419 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of average length of 668 bp were collected and assembled into 322 genes containing 70 clusters and 252 singletons. The genes were annotated using BLAST searches and categorized into ten major functional categories. Genes expressed abundantly were those of proteases and metabolic, transcription, and translation housekeeping proteins. Genes expressed higher in C. sinensis metacercariae than in adults coded structural and cytoskeletal proteins, transcription and translation machinery proteins, and energy metabolism-related proteins. This EST information supports the notion that C. sinensis metacercariae in fish hosts have a physiology and metabolism that is quite different from that of its adult form in mammals.