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. 2014 Jan 16;10(1):e1003878. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003878

Figure 6. RNA interference (RNAi) in schistosomulae.

Figure 6

Larvae were treated with 50(mock control) and cultured for 8 days. (A) Motility assays were performed using the same imaging assay described above. The data are the means and SEM of 3 experiments, each performed with at least 20 animals in duplicates. (B) For measurements of RNA expression, total RNA was isolated 8- days post-transfection and oligo-dT reverse-transcribed. Quantitative qPCR was performed with primers targeting Sm5HTR and α-tubulin as a housekeeping gene. Expression was calculated relative to the scrambled control sample, using the comparative Pfaffl method. *** Significantly different from control at p<0.0001; ns, not significant at p<0.05. (C) Representative images of schistosomulae transfected with Sm5HTR siRNA compared to scrambled siRNA or untransfected larvae. Images were obtained at 8 days post-transfection. The controls show the characteristic movement of repeated shortening and elongation, whereas the RNAi-suppressed animals are round in shape and appear unable to elongate the body.