Scott P Lawton

Scotland's Rural College | SRUC · Epidemiology Research Unit

Calcium/calmodulin dependant protein kinase II (CaMKII), an important transducer of Ca ²⁺ signals, orchestrates multiple cellular functions in animals. Here we investigated the importance of CaMKII to Schistosoma mansoni , a blood parasite that causes human schistosomiasis. We demonstrate that phosphorylated (activated) CaMKII is present in cercari...

Ascariasis is the most prevalent helminthic disease affecting both humans and pigs and is caused by the roundworms Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum . While preventive chemotherapy continues to be the most common control method, recent reports of anthelminthic resistance highlight the need for development of a vaccine against ascariasis. The ai...

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome or mtDNA) of the trematode Echinostoma malayanum Leiper, 1911 was fully determined and annotated. The circular mtDNA molecule comprised 12 protein-coding genes (PCGs) (cox1 − 3, cob, nad1 − 6, nad4L, atp6), two mitoribosomal RNAs (MRGs) (16S or rrnL and 12S or rrnS), and 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs or trn),...

Cannabis is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs worldwide. Rrecent epidemiology studies have linked increased cardiac complications to cannabis use. However, this literature is predominantly based on case incidents and post-mortem investigations. This study elucidates the molecular mechanism of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and its pr...

One of the major evolutionarily conserved pathways in innate immunity of invertebrates is the toll-like receptor (TLR) pathway. However, little is known of the TLR protein family in gastropod molluscs despite their role in the transmission of human diseases, especially the common lymnaeid freshwater snail species Radix auricularia and Lymnaea stagn...

Schistosomules of the human parasite Schistosoma mansoni are vital for research focusing on the fundamental functional/developmental biology of schistosomes and many anti-schistosomal drug discovery programmes. Through the further evaluation and validation of a recently tested media, HybridoMed Diff 1000 (HM), for the cell-free culture of juvenile...

Cocaine is one of the most widely abused illicit drugs worldwide and has long been recognised as an agent of cardiac dysfunction in numerous cases of drug overdose. Cocaine has previously been shown to up-regulate cytoskeletal rearrangements and morphological changes in numerous tissues; however, previous literature observes such changes primarily...

In the Middle East Radicine snails of considerable medical and veterinary importance acting as vectors of trematodes. In Iran, such snails are responsible for the transmission of the zoonotic trematodes Schistosoma turkestanicum and Fasciola gigantica. Historically, Radix gedrosiana has been incriminated as an important intermediate host for zoonot...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Human ascariasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides. We report a 296 megabase (Mb) reference-quality genome comprised of 17,902 protein-coding genes derived from a single, representative Ascaris worm. An additional 68 worms were collected from 60 human hosts in Kenyan villages where pig husbandry is ra...

Trypanosomes are ubiquitous blood parasites of fishes and at least 16 species were originally described infecting African freshwater fishes. This number was later reduced to six and in the late 1990s it was proposed that most records of freshwater fish trypanosomes across Africa are Trypanosoma mukasai Hoare, 1932. Recently, results from a molecula...

Despite Diplostomum baeri (Dubois, 1937) being one of the most widely distributed parasites of freshwater fish, there is no complete mitochondrial (mt) genome currently available. The complicated systematics presented by D. baeri has hampered investigations into the species distributions and infective dynamics of the species. Within this study we o...

Human ascariasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides. We report a 296 megabase (Mb) reference quality genome comprised of 17902 protein-coding genes derived from a single, representative Ascaris worm collected from 60 human hosts in Kenyan villages where pig husbandry is rare. Notably, the majority of h...

Although helminth parasites cause enormous suffering worldwide we know little of how protein phosphorylation, one of the most important post-translational modifications used for molecular signalling, regulates their homeostasis and function. This is particularly the case for schistosomes. Herein, we report a deep phosphoproteome exploration of adul...

Many members of Fasciolidae are common trematodes in cattle, buffaloes, sheep, elephants, pigs, with some capable of infecting humans also. In this study, the complete or near-complete sequences of ribosomal transcription unit (rTU or rDNA), each of Fasciola hepatica (Australia), Fascioloides jacksoni (Sri Lanka), Fasciolopsis buski (Vietnam) and t...

Fascioloides jacksoni (syn. Fasciola jacksoni, Cobbold, 1869) (Platyhelminthes: Echinostomatoidea), is a liver fluke that causes severe morbidity and mortality of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus maximus). Understandings on molecular diagnosis, epidemiology, genetics and evolution of this flatworm are limited. In this study, we present the complete...

Schistosoma spindale and Schistosoma indicum are ruminant-infecting trematodes of the Schistosoma indicum group that are widespread across Southeast Asia. Though neglected, these parasites can cause major pathology and mortality to livestock leading to significant welfare and socio-economic issues, predominantly amongst poor subsistence farmers and...

The complete mitochondrial sequence of 17,030 bp was obtained from Echinostoma revolutum and characterized with those of previously reported members of the superfamily Echinostomatoidea, i.e. six echinostomatids, one echinochasmid, five fasciolids, one himasthlid, and two cyclocoelids. Relationship within suborders and between superfamilies, such a...

Fasciola jacksoni is a significant contributor to the health and mortality of Asian elephants, particularly those in Sri Lanka. Despite the impact of fascioliasis on elephant populations it is a neglected veterinary disease with limited taxonomic understanding. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of F. jacksoni was carried out to e...

Trematodes of the genus Plesiochorus were recovered from the urinary bladder of a stranded female adult loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, on a beach in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Morphological analysis of the specimens revealed characteristics resembling the sub-species Plesiochorus cymbiformis elongatus rather than the recently synonymise...

Trematode genus Diplostomum comprises of parasitic species which cause diplostomiasis, the 'white eye' disease in fish and heavy infection can result in mortality. The increasing availability of DNA sequences of accurately identified Diplostomum species on public data base presently enables the rapid identification of species from novel sequences....

The medically important freshwater snail Physa acuta is highly invasive and has been reported in several freshwater environments across Africa. To identify species and provide initial insights into the origins of P. acuta into African fresh water environments standard molecular barcoding analyses, using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subuni...

Lecithodendrium linstowi is one of the most prevalent and abundant trematodes of bats, but the larval stages and intermediate hosts have not been identified. We present the first molecular and morphological characterization of the cercariae of L. linstowi based on a phylogenetic analysis of partial fragments of LSU and ITS2 rDNA. The first intermed...

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15451.

High levels of molecular diversity were identified in mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase (cox1) gene sequences of Schistosoma turkestanicum from Hungary. These cox1 sequences were all specific to Hungary which contrasted with the low levels of diversity seen in the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) sequences, the majority of which we...

Biomphalaria snails are instrumental in transmission of the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni. With the World Health Organization's goal to eliminate schistosomiasis as a global health problem by 2025, there is now renewed emphasis on snail control. Here, we characterize the genome of Biomphalaria glabrata, a lophotrochozoan protostome, and pro...

Secreted_proteins SCW&ES_Topblast_results

HSP annotation

HSP expression in Bge cell-line

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and cytokines

Supplementary Figures, Supplementary Notes and Supplementary References

Biomphalaria glabrata linkage groups

Proteome InterProscan annotation

fasta sequences of predicted secreted proteins (fasta)

secretome B. glabrata, Interproscan annotation

Pfam domain annotation of predicted secretome

Transcripts, tissue distribution

Predicted GPCR genes of Biomphalaria glabrata

REDOX genes

Annotation unknown microarray features

Conserved precursor miRNAs, Structural, location and thermodynamic

Novel predicted miRNA and target genes

Neuropeptides precursors and prepropeptides

Sequence data sets

proteome KEGG/SNV mapping

Mycoplasma/Mollicute annotation

GREPs bind to S.mansoni

Expression patterns of previous unknowns.

neuropeptides, tissue distribution

Predicted bioactive cleavage products of neuropeptides

Biomphalaria glabrata actins

Biomineralization transcripts from B. glabrata mantle tissue.

Low-copy transposable elements (TE) abundance

Prediction of secreted proteins

Cytochrome P 450 (CYP) genes of B. glabrata.

TLR pathway signaling

Apoptosome

Epigenetic toolbox genes

miRNA and piRNA pathway factors

Conserved mature miRNAs B. glabrata and homologs

conserved precursor miRNAs tissue distribution in B. glabrata

Conserved miRNA target gene predictions

Novel miRNAs predictions

Steroidogenesis pathway genes

Complement-like factors.

Antimicrobial factors

Antimicrobial factors expression profiles

Cardiac regulatory and structural genes in B. glabrata

Identity of 34 B. pfeifferi and B. glabrata sequence homologs

Sequence Identity of B. pfeifferi homologs to 162 B. glabrata genes from

Turtle blood flukes belonging to the family Spirorchiidae (Digenea) represent a major threat for sea turtle health and are considered the most important parasitic cause of turtle stranding and mortality worldwide. Despite the large diversity of spirorchiid species found globally, there are only 2 records for free-ranging Mediterranean sea turtles t...

Cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase/protein kinase A (PKA) regulates multiple processes in eukaryotes by phosphorylating diverse cellular substrates, including metabolic and signalling enzymes, ion channels and transcription factors. Here we provide insight into PKA signalling in cercariae and 24 h in vitro cultured somules of the blood para...