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Background   Schistosoma japonicum  is a waterborne parasite that causes schistosomiasis in humans and in more than 40 animal species.  Schistosoma japonicum  shows distinct genetic differentiation among geographical populations and multiple hosts, but the genetic diversity of different developmental stages of  S. japonicum  from is less studied. Such studies could elucidate ecological mechanisms in disease transmission by analysing feedbacks in individual physiology and population state.    Methods  After infection using cercariae from a pool of snails shedding together (Method I) and infection using mixed equal numbers of cercariae from individually shed snails (Method II), different developmental stages of  S. japonicum  were genotyped with microsatellite loci, including 346 cercariae, 701 adult worms and 393 miracidia. Genetic diversity and molecular variation were calculated at different population levels. Kinships ( I′ ) among cercariae at intra-snail and inter-snail levels were evaluated. Genetic distance ( Dsw ) was compared between paired and unpaired worms, and partner changing was investigated through paternity identification for miracidia.    Results  The cercaria clones in individual snails varied from 1 to 8 and the kinship of cercariae within individual snails was significant higher ( P  < 0.001) than that among different snails after deleting near-identical multi-locus genotypes (niMLGs). The allelic diversity of worms in Method I was lower ( P  < 0.001) than that in Method II, and allele frequency among mice in Method I was also less consistent. The parents of some miracidia were worms that were not paired when collected. The  Dsw  between each female of paired and unpaired males was much larger ( P  < 0.001) than that between the female and male in each pair.    Conclusions  Most of the infected snails contained multiple miracidia clones. The aggregation of genetically similar  S. japonicum  miracidia in individual snails and the unbalanced distribution of miracidia among snails suggests a non-uniform genetic distribution of cercariae among snails in the field. This further influenced the genetic structure of adult worms from infections with different cercariae sampling methods.  Schistosoma japonicum  in mice can change paired partner, preferring to mate with genetically similar worms. These characteristics provide implications for understanding the balance in genetic diversity of  S. japonicum  related to the transmission of schistosomiasis.

parasites and vectors

The genetic variation of different developmental stages of Schistosoma japonicum: do the distribution in snails and pairing preference benefit the transmission?