MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF SYMBIONTS FROM THE PULMONATE SNAIL BIOMPHALARIA GLABRATA IN BRAZIL

The icthyosporean, Capsaspora owczarzaki, a known predator of Schistosoma mansoni sporocysts in vitro, is more prevalent in laboratory-reared strains of the intermediate snail host, Biomphalaria glabrata resistant to S. mansoni, than from the susceptible M line strain. We examined whether B. glabrata resistant to the NIH-PR-1 strain of S. mansoni from 2 regions in Brazil were also host to C. owczarzaki. Symbiont presence was examined using hemolymph culturing and nested polymerase chain reaction of snail genomic DNA with primers designed to specifically amplify sequences from relatives of the Icthyosporea. All B. glabrata of the resistant Salvador strain from the laboratory of Dr. Lobato Paraense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (n = 46) tested negative for symbionts. Three of 18 semiresistant 10-R2 B. glabrata from the laboratory of Dr. Barbosa in Recife, Brazil tested positive for C. owczarzaki. Another icthyosporean, Anurofeca sp., was identified from 1, 10-R2 snail and from 2 of 12 field-collected B. glabrata from Praia do Forte Orange, Ilha de Itamaracá. Snails from 2 other sites, Hotel Colibri, Pontezinha and Praia do Sossego, Ilha de Itamaracá, were negative for Anurofeca. Two genera of ciliates were also identified. Paruroleptus sp. was found in 4, 10-R2 snails and Trichodina sp. was identified in 2 field-collected snails from Praia do Forte Orange and Praia do Sossego.