Anna Sophie Hecker (Hannover / DE), Dr. Marie-Kristin Raulf (Hannover / DE), Anika Strom (Gießen / DE), Katharina May (Gießen / DE), Sven König (Gießen / DE), Prof. Dr. Christina Strube (Hannover / DE)
Abstract text
The liver fluke Fasciola hepatica is among the most important endoparasites in ruminants worldwide causing clinical symptoms and production losses. Anthelmintic treatment is widely implemented, but reports on resistance are increasing and the development of a vaccine has not been successful so far.
This project aims at investigating the cattle-F. hepatica interaction by simultaneous modelling of host- and parasite-derived genomic, proteomic and glycomic data to unravel novel approaches for prevention and control of F. hepatica.
To this end, Holstein-Frisian dairy cows from preselected herds are sampled at the abattoir and various infections traits were recorded. All liver flukes present in the bile ducts were measured, will be genotyped and variations in protein and glycan composition of the surface tegument are currently investigated via SDS-PAGE and immunoblot-based assays.
Out of the sampled animals (n=156), 53 cows showed patent F. hepatica infections with a mean fluke count of 5.5 flukes/liver. Investigation of the surface tegument revealed minor variations between individual flukes and major differences in glycosylation patterns compared to published data from Ireland, suggesting considerable variations between fluke populations.
Finally, all data will be considered simultaneously in genotype-by-genotype interaction analyses, which will provide new insights into host tolerance/resistance induction to unravel potential candidates for future vaccine development.