Figure 2

Schistosoma mansoni life cycle representing the separated sexes of the parasite. Sexual reproduction occurs between male and female adult worms in the vertebrate definitive host. Sex determination is syngamic, thus one egg produces either a male or a female larva (called miracidium). This larva actively infects a mollusc intermediate host, transforms into intramolluscan larval stages (called sporocysts) and produces, by clonal multiplication, many unisexual larvae (called cercariae) that will actively infect the vertebrate definitive host and transform into adult worms. For our experimental approach, molluscs were infected with a single miracidium, thus produced either male or female cercariae.