Biochemical genetics in the study of schistosomes and their intermediate hosts

This paper considers the contributions that studies on electrophoresis of enzymes have made to the understanding of the biology of schistosomiasis. The use of enzymes for characterisation of schistosomes is reviewed and particular attention is given to investigations concerning hybridisation, mating behaviour and population structure. Results are presented on variation between isolates of S. haematobium detected by analysis of a G6PDH polymorphism and variation of G6PDH and MDH-1 within natural populations of S. leiperi from lechwe in Zambia. Genetic variation of snail populations is considered in relation to susceptibility to schistosomes. Examples are given illustrating the ways in which inheritance studies can be used to investigate the breeding biology of snails.