Fig. 4: Invadolysin-like genes in T. hydatigena and other flatworms.

a The gene structure of the gene encoding ‘invadolysin’ (M08 peptidase) in T. hydatigena. The gene structure was manually curated based on RNA-seq data and gene model prediction. Splice junctions were manually confirmed using the alterative splicing information identified from the RNA-seq data. The gray regions indicate untranslated regions (UTRs). b Alternative splicing events detected in samples of cestodes (T. hydatigena, T. saginata, T. asiatica, and T. solium) are significantly higher than the samples of trematodes (S. mansoni, S. japonicum, and C. sinensis). Available samples at different life stages for each species were used for alternative splicing event identification (see ‘Methods’). Few alternative splicing isoforms of M08 peptidases were detected from trematodes. c The expressed (sequencing depth >1) gene members of M08 peptidase family at different developmental stages for each involved species in the cestodes (n = 1 for T. hydatigena, T. saginata, T. asiatica, and T. solium) are less than those in the trematodes (S. mansoni, S. japonicum, and C. sinensis). d Phylogenetic tree for the genes encoding ‘invadolysin’ in platyhelminths. Cluster 1 consists of invadolysin-like genes identified in the genome of S. mediterranea; cluster 2 consists of invadolysin-like genes identified from the genomes of cestodes and trematodes; cluster 3 only consists of invadolysin-like genes identified from the trematode genomes. e Expression levels (FPKM) of the invadolysin-like gene in T. hydatigena. f The invadolysin-like gene in T. hydatigena was clustered into a module (turquoise) in WGCNA analysis. This module showed a higher eigengene expression level at days 30 and 60 post infection in the intermediate host (sheep). The whiskers of boxplot indicate 1.5 × interquartile range. ^****p < 0.0001 using the two-sided Wilcoxon rank sum test (confidence level = 0.95).