Fig. 6. Identification of SjRho functions in ovarian development and egg production.

a Characterization of SjRho expression in different part of females. Data illustrate representative results showing the mean and standard error, n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis compared ovary vs anterior and ovary vs vitellarium by Students t test. b Screening of the best siRNA for silencing SjRho. Data illustrate representative results showing the mean and standard error, n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed comparing control siRNA vs siRNA-246/476/927 using Students t-test and * P ≤ 0.05, ** P ≤ 0.01. c Inhibition of SjRho resulted in morphological defects of ovaries in female schistosomes. Female worms were electroporated either with siRNA (3 μg) or control siRNA (3 μg) and then incubated for 4 days as described in Materials and Methods. Worms were stained with carmine red and whole-mount preparations of worms imaged by confocal microscopy. Io immature oocyte, mo mature oocyte, v vacuole. The number of parasites similar to representative images is indicated in the upper right of each panel. n = 15 parasites, two biological replicates. Scale bar = 20 µm. d Suppression of SjRho induced significantly decreased egg production. Data illustrate representative results showing the mean and standard error, n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis was performed comparing control siRNA vs siRNA-476 using Students t-test and * P ≤ 0.05.