MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for the identification of freshwater snails from Senegal, including intermediate hosts of schistosomes

2021

Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000697612500001

Hamlili F. Z., Thiam F., Laroche M., Diarra A. Z., Doucoure S., Gaye P. M., Fall C. B., Faye Babacar, Sokhna Cheikh, Sow D., Parola P.

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2021, 15 (9), e0009725 [26 p.] ISSN 1935-2735

Author summary Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease, caused by blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma. The infective cercariae are released by freshwater snails belonging to three genera: Biomphalaria, Bulinus and Oncomelania. It is one of the most significant neglected infectious diseases in the world. Snail identification is tremendously important for monitoring snail populations and schistosomiasis. Identification is currently based on morphological criteria and molecular biology, both of which present several drawbacks. Many studies have reported the performance of MALDI-TOF MS, a technology that allows species identification based on their proteins, as a reliable, rapid, and easy-to-use tool in many fields. The aim of our study was to create a snail database and assess the efficiency of MALDI-TOF MS for snail identification. This study shows that MALDI-TOF MS can rapidly identify both frozen and ethanol-stored specimens of different species. These results support the use of MALDI-TOF MS in the context of epidemiological studies in Schistosoma-endemic areas.

Freshwater snails of the genera Biomphalaria, Bulinus, and Oncomelania are intermediate hosts of schistosomes that cause human schistosomiasis, one of the most significant infectious neglected diseases in the world. Identification of freshwater snails is usually based on morphology and, potentially, DNA-based methods, but these have many drawbacks that hamper their use. MALDI-TOF MS has revolutionised clinical microbiology and has emerged in the medical entomology field. This study aims to evaluate MALDI-TOF MS profiling for the identification of both frozen and ethanol-stored snail species using protein extracts from different body parts. A total of 530 field specimens belonging to nine species (Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Bulinus forskalii, Bulinus senegalensis, Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus globosus, Bellamya unicolor, Cleopatra bulimoides, Lymnaea natalensis, Melanoides tuberculata) and 89 laboratory-reared specimens, including three species (Bi. pfeifferi, Bu. forskalii, Bu. truncatus) were used for this study. For frozen snails, the feet of 127 field and 74 laboratory-reared specimens were used to validate the optimised MALDI-TOF MS protocol. The spectral analysis yielded intra-species reproducibility and inter-species specificity which resulted in the correct identification of all the specimens in blind queries, with log-score values greater than 1.7. In a second step, we demonstrated that MALDI-TOF MS could also be used to identify ethanol-stored snails using proteins extracted from the foot using a specific database including a large number of ethanol preserved specimens. This study shows for the first time that MALDI-TOF MS is a reliable tool for the rapid identification of frozen and ethanol-stored freshwater snails without any malacological expertise.

Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Entomologie médicale / Parasitologie / Virologie [052] ; Sciences du monde animal [080]

SENEGAL

Fonds IRD [F B010083147]

fdi:010083147