The Gut Microbiome of the Snails Lissachatina fulica and Parmarion martensi, Infected and Uninfected by the Rat Lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis
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2020
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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This project focused on a parasite, the rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis), and
its intermediate snail hosts (rats are the definitive hosts in which the worms reproduce). This
parasite is important because it is the main etiological agent causing human eosinophilic
meningitis. The intermediate hosts are important because people are infected by the parasite
when they consume infected hosts, deliberately or inadvertently. Once consumed, the parasites
eventually reach the brain, where they remain, feeding and moving until they die. This can lead
to a wide range of signs and symptoms resulting from the neurological damage and inflammation
the worms cause; in severe cases it may lead to coma and death. The bacterial microbiota in the
gut of the snail host may be important in influencing the likelihood of infection of the host by the
parasite. Therefore the goal of this project was to characterize the gut microbiome of two snail
species, Lissachatina fulica and Parmarion martensi, to determine whether their microbiomes
differed and whether being infected by A. cantonensis led to a change in their microbiomes. The
snails were collected in Heeia, island of Oahu, Hawaii. Molecular screening for A. cantonensis
infection permitted selection of 20 infected and 17 uninfected L. fulica and 13 infected and 20
uninfected P. martensi for analysis. High throughput sequencing of the gut microbiomes of these
snails identified four dominant bacterial phyla: Proteobacteria, Tenericutes, Firmicutes, and
Bacteroidetes. However, there were significant differences between the microbiomes of the two
snail species and between infected and uninfected individuals. The significance of this project is
two-fold. First it has shed light on the gut microbiomes of snails and how biotic interactions may
impact them. Second, by increasing current knowledge about the impact of this parasite on its
host it may lead to novel methods to hinder the ability of the parasite to effectively complete its
life cycle and thereby decrease the number of accidental human infections.
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39 pages
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