Filling Key Research Gaps With Clinical Implications in Mansonellosis and Schistosomiasis: a Network Approach

Samples of M. perstans microfilariae will be processed by PCR to investigate the presence (or absence) of Wolbachia using a set of primers targeting the genes ftsZ and 16S and optimized using reference material during the first year of the study. Samples of Schistosoma eggs from urine and feces will be processed for DNA extraction. Each sample will be genetically characterised by multi locus analysis of the mitochondrial cox1 region and the nuclear ITS and 18S rRNA regions. PCR products will be analysed by agarose gel electrophoresis and selected amplicons will be purified and Sanger sequenced. For the individuation of Schistosoma hybrids, the nuclear DNA for each sample will be confirmed by analysis of the species-specific polymorphic positions of the ITS1+2 and 18S. The mitochondrial and nuclear DNA genetic profiles for each individual sample will be recorded to determine the species involved in the infections and also any hybrid schistosomes