Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, United States; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States
Jayhun Lee
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States
Pengyang Li
Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
Amir Saberi
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States
Huiying Yang
Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
Chang Liu
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
Minglei Zhao
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
Schistosomes are parasitic flatworms infecting hundreds of millions of people. These parasites alternate between asexual reproduction in molluscan hosts and sexual reproduction in mammalian hosts; short-lived, water-borne stages infect each host. Thriving in such disparate environments requires remarkable developmental plasticity, manifested by five body plans deployed throughout the parasite’s life cycle. Stem cells in Schistosoma mansoni provide a potential source for such plasticity; however, the relationship between stem cells from different life-cycle stages remains unclear, as does the origin of the germline, required for sexual reproduction. Here, we show that subsets of larvally derived stem cells are likely sources of adult stem cells and the germline. We also identify a novel gene that serves as the earliest marker for the schistosome germline, which emerges inside the mammalian host and is ultimately responsible for disease pathology. This work reveals the stem cell heterogeneity driving the propagation of the schistosome life cycle.
