Authors

Discussion

Fasciolosis of livestock is a global threat to food security and is now an increasing food borne risk to humans. At present, there are no commercial vaccines to underpin control programmes.To help secure future anthelmintic control of fasciolosis, uncovering the parasite’s anthelmintic detoxification capacity directed towards anthelmintics such as Triclabendazole (TCBZ) has been deemed of paramount importance. Thus, a functional transcriptome of resistant and susceptible F. hepatica isolates following TCBZ-SO exposure in vitro culture was produced. Analysis of this transcriptome surprisingly revealed that classic detoxification families did not respond to anthelmintic exposure.  However, a number of membrane associated proteins (tegument like antigens and cathepsin Ls) were up regulated in the presence of TCBZ-SO for the TCBZ susceptible (TCBZ-S) isolates. Perhaps more significantly, alpha tubulins (a binding partner of beta tubulins as a potential target of TCBZ) were also found to be up-regulated in TCBZ-S isolates following in vitro culturing. Further in silico investigation of the current transcriptome and newly sequenced genome revealed that the F. hepatica genome encodes for a greater number of both alpha and beta tubulins than previously identified. This work redirects research into the mode of action of TCBZ back towards microtubules and tubulins