Most parasitic flatworms go through different life stages with important physiological and morphological changes. In this work, we used a transcriptomic approach to analyze the main life-stages of the model tapeworm Hymenolepis microstoma (eggs, cysticercoids, and adults). Our results showed massive transcriptomic changes in this life cycle, including key gene families that contribute substantially to the expression load in each stage. In particular, different members of the cestode-specific hydrophobic ligand-binding protein (HLBP) family are among the most highly expressed genes in each life stage. We also found the transcriptomic signature of major metabolic changes during the transition from cysticercoids to adult worms. Thus, this work contributes to uncovering the gene expression changes that accompany the development of this important cestode model species, and to the best of our knowledge represents the first transcriptomic study with robust replicates spanning all of the main life stages of a tapeworm.

大多数寄生扁虫经历不同的生命阶段，具有重要的生理和形态变化。在这项工作中，我们使用转录组学方法来分析模型绦虫Hymenolepis microstoma的主要生命阶段（鸡蛋、囊尾蚴和成人）。我们的结果显示，在这个生命周期中存在巨大的转录组变化，包括对每个阶段的表达负荷做出重大贡献的关键基因家族。特别是，绦虫特异性疏水配体结合蛋白 (HLBP) 家族的不同成员是每个生命阶段中表达最高的基因之一。我们还发现了从囊尾蚴到成虫的转变过程中主要代谢变化的转录组学特征。因此，这项工作有助于揭示伴随这一重要绦虫模型物种发展的基因表达变化，并且据我们所知，这是第一个跨越绦虫所有主要生命阶段的稳健复制的转录组学研究。