Advances in gastropod immunity from the study of the interaction between the snail Biomphalaria glabrata and its parasites: A review of research progress over the last decade

This review summarizes the research progress made over the past decade in the field of gastropod immunity resulting from investigations of the interaction between the snail Biomphalaria glabrata and its trematode parasites. A combination of integrated approaches, including cellular, genetic and comparative molecular and proteomic approaches have revealed novel molecular components involved in mediating Biomphalaria immune responses that provide insights into the nature of host-parasite compatibility and the mechanisms involved in parasite recognition and killing. The current overview emphasizes that the interaction between B. glabrata and its trematode parasites involves a complex molecular crosstalk between numerous antigens, immune receptors, effectors and anti-effector systems that are highly diverse structurally and extremely variable in expression between and within host and parasite populations. Ultimately, integration of these molecular signals will determine the outcome of a specific interaction between a B. glabrata individual and its interacting trematodes. Understanding these complex molecular interactions and identifying key factors that may be targeted to impairment of schistosome development in the snail host is crucial to generating new alternative schistosomiasis control strategies.

Focus on sulfur count rates along marine sediment cores acquired by XRF Core Scanner

The aim of this study is to investigate the information provided by sulfur count rates obtained by X-ray fluorescence core scanner (XRF-CS) along sedimentary records. The analysis of two marine sediment cores from the Niger Delta margin shows that XRF-CS sulfur count rates obtained at the surface of split core sections with XRF-CS correlate with both direct quantitative pyrite concentrations, as inferred from X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and sulfur determination by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectrometry, and total dissolved sulfide (TDS) contents in the sediment pore water. These findings demonstrate the potential of XRF-CS for providing continuous profiles of pyrite distribution along split sections of sediment cores. The potential of XRF-CS to detect TDS pore water enrichments in marine sediment records, even a long time after sediment recovery, will be further discussed.