Data from: Evolutionary epidemiology of schistosomiasis: linking parasite genetics with disease phenotype in humans

Here we assess the role of parasite genetic variation in host disease phenotype in human schistosomiasis by implementing concepts and techniques from environmental association analysis in evolutionary epidemiology. Schistosomiasis is a tropical disease that affects more than 200 million people worldwide and is caused by parasitic flatworms belonging to the genus Schistosoma. While the role of host genetics has been extensively studied and demonstrated, nothing is yet known on the contribution of parasite genetic variation to host disease phenotype in human schistosomiasis. In this study microsatellite genotypes of 1561 Schistosoma mansoni larvae collected from 44 human hosts in Senegal were linked to host characteristics such as age, gender, infection intensity, liver and bladder morbidity by means of multivariate regression methods (on each parasite locus separately). This revealed a highly significant association between allelic variation at the parasite locus L46951 and host infection intensity and bladder morbidity. Locus L46951 is located in the 3’ untranslated region of the cGMP-dependent protein kinase gene that is expressed in reproductive organs of adult schistosome worms and appears to be linked to egg production. This putative link between parasite genetic variation and schistosomiasis disease phenotype sets the stage for further functional research. Microsatellite genotypes and host phenotypesThe worksheet “microsatellite genotypes” contains data from individual parasites (S. mansoni larvae) collected in Senegal, genotyped with nine microsatellite loci combined in a single multiplex: L46951, smd25, smd28 and smd89 (Durand et al., 2000); CA11-1 and S9-1 (Blair et al., 2001); smd11, smd43 and sdma28 (Curtis et al., 2001). This dataset represents 1692 parasites from 63 human hosts with at least five out of the nine loci successfully amplified. The worksheet “host phenotypes” contains host phenotypic data from the 63 human hosts. The host variables include gender, village*, liver morbidity (IP score), bladder morbidity (UBS score), Schistosoma mansoni infection intensity (epg**), Schistosoma haematobium infection intensity (ep 10ml**) and circulating anodic antigen (CAA) concentrations (picogram of CAA per mL). village* : Pakh (code 200), Ndieumeul (code 501), Diokhor Takh (code 502) epg**: number of eggs per gram of faeces; ep10ml**: number of eggs per 10 ml of urine.