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The protein pheromone temptin is an attractant of the gastropod Biomphalaria glabrata

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Abstract

The freshwater snail Biomphalaria glabrata has drawn much research interest by virtue of it being one of the intermediate hosts of the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni, a causative agent of human schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis is a chronic disease that affects over 260 million people globally, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions. One strategy that has been proposed as a way to prevent human infection by the parasite, involves the use of pheromone traps to lure the snail host away from areas of human activity. This requires an understanding of chemosensory communication in B. glabrata, especially of the chemoattractive factors. Although evidence indicates that specific chemical communication takes place, little is known about chemoattractants produced by the snail itself. Here, we report on the functional characterization of an endogenously produced temptin-like protein (BgTemptin) from B. glabrata and demonstrate that recombinant BgTemptin is attractive to this snail. Exposure of B. glabrata to BgTemptin results in 81% (lane maze) and 70% (T-maze) time spent near to the BgTemptin source. This effect, which is dependent on the concentration of the protein, provides another tool that can be further developed and used in efforts to control and eliminate schistosomiasis.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, Discovery Grant #418540 to PCH. All animal maintenance and handling were approved under the Animal Use Protocol Number AUP00000057_REN2 by the Research Ethics Office, University of Alberta. We thank Michelle A. Gordy and Sydney P. Rudko for helpful comments and suggestions on the manuscript.

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  1. School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 357F South Academic Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G2G7, Canada

    Emmanuel A. Pila, Shauna J. Peck & Patrick C. Hanington

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  1. Emmanuel A. Pila
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359_2017_1198_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. S1: Setup for the snail attraction tests. The lane maze (a) and T-maze (b) were constructed from white polyvinyl chloride sheets. They were filled with artificial spring water (ASW) to a depth of 1 cm and allowed to settle for 2 min. A test substance was introduced at one end (lane maze) or the two top arms (T-maze) and after 5 min of diffusion, a snail was introduced at the middle of the lane with its head towards the 60 cm side (lane maze), or the end of the bottom arm (T-maze). Both lane and T-mazes were rinsed before and in between tests, and were set under a Nikon D90 camera that took pictures at 1 min intervals (TIFF 2076 kb)

359_2017_1198_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. S2: Alignment of BgTemtin, Aplysia californica temptin (AcTemptin) and 12 temptin-like sequences predicted in B. glabrata. Columns with identity of greater than 60% are colored. The region proposed to be relevant for temptin fold and function is shown in the box. The cysteine residues involved in disulfide bonds and the flanking tryptophan residues (Cummins et al., 2007) are denoted by * and # respectively (TIFF 843 kb)

359_2017_1198_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. S3: Alignment of Aplysia californica attractin (AcAttractin), temptin (AcTemptin) and temptin-like sequences from B. glabrata. Columns with identity of greater than 60% are colored. The highly conserved attractin motif (IIEECKTS) is shown in the box (TIFF 764 kb)

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Pila, E.A., Peck, S.J. & Hanington, P.C. The protein pheromone temptin is an attractant of the gastropod Biomphalaria glabrata . J Comp Physiol A 203, 855–866 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-017-1198-0

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