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METHODS article

Front. Trop. Dis
Sec. Neglected Tropical Diseases
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fitd.2024.1350680
This article is part of the Research Topic Female Genital Schistosomiasis: Research Needed to Raise Awareness and Deliver Action View all 12 articles

A rapid DNA screening method using high-resolution melt analysis to detect putative Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mattheei hybrids alongside other introgressing schistosomes

Provisionally accepted
Lucas J. Cunningham Lucas J. Cunningham 1*Sekeleghe Kayuni Sekeleghe Kayuni 2,3Alexandra Juhasz Alexandra Juhasz 1,4Peter Makaula Peter Makaula 2,3David Lally David Lally 2,3Gladys Namacha Gladys Namacha 2,3Donales Kapira Donales Kapira 2,3Priscilla Chammudzi Priscilla Chammudzi 2,3Bright Mainga Bright Mainga 2,3Sam Jones Sam Jones 1John Archer John Archer 1EJ LaCourse EJ LaCourse 1Janelisa Musaya Janelisa Musaya 2,3Russ R. Stothard Russ R. Stothard 1
  • 1 Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • 2 Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi
  • 3 Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Blantyre, Malawi
  • 4 Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The phenomenon of hybridisation between Schistosoma species has gained a greater degree of significance since the WHO declared that schistosomiasis is to be eliminated, as a public health problem, by 2030. The role hybridisation plays in the transmission of disease is poorly understood and has the potential to complicate this elimination effort.A primary reason for this incomplete understanding of schistosome hybridisation is the lack of suitable, highthroughput and easily accessible methods capable of identifying the species-parentage of individual schistosomes.To address this resource gap, we present the development of a two-tube HRM assay capable of differentiating the species-parentage of schistosomes from a possible range of six species, namely: S. mattheei, S. curassoni, S. bovis, S. haematobium, S. mansoni and S. margrebowiei.

    Keywords: HRM, Schistosomiasis hybrids, female genital schistosomiasis, qPCR, diagnostic

    Received: 05 Dec 2023; Accepted: 15 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cunningham, Kayuni, Juhasz, Makaula, Lally, Namacha, Kapira, Chammudzi, Mainga, Jones, Archer, LaCourse, Musaya and Stothard. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lucas J. Cunningham, Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.