Snail microbiota and snail–schistosome interactions: axenic and gnotobiotic technologies.

Microbiota in intermediate hosts of human schistosomes play a significant role in various aspects of snail biology, such as growth and development. Understanding the potential impact of microbiota on snail–schistosome interactions and snail competence is crucial for future research and requires omics-based approaches. Successfully developing axenic and gnotobiotic models is a significant step that involves proper isolation of snail eggs, effective sterilization methods, suitable nutrition, and husbandry practices. And more axenic snail species are needed to cover diverse schistosome species. Advancing axenic and gnotobiotic snail systems and combining them with advanced technologies can offer insights into the role of snail microbiota and uncover intricate microbiota–snail and snail–parasite interactions, leading to the development of new strategies for controlling schistosomiasis. The microbiota in the intermediate snail hosts of human schistosomes can significantly affect host biology. For decades, researchers have developed axenic snails to manipulate the symbiotic microbiota. This review summarizes the characteristics of symbiotic microbes in intermediate snail hosts and describes their interactions with snails, affecting snail growth, development, and parasite transmission ability. We focus on advances in axenic and gnotobiotic technologies for studying snail–microbe interactions and exploring the role of microbiota in snail susceptibility to Schistosoma infection. We discuss the challenges related to axenic and gnotobiotic snails, possible solutions to address these challenges, and future research directions to deepen our understanding of snail–microbiota interactions, with the aim to develop microbiota-based strategies for controlling snail populations and reducing their competence in transmitting parasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]