Figure 7
SmVAL transcription throughout the schistosome life cycle includes both developmental and constitutive patterns. Total RNA from indicated life-stages was obtained as described in Methods and utilized for real time quantitative PCR analysis to determine SmVAL1-13 transcript abundance. For each SmVAL transcript, a bar graph is displayed indicating relative abundance (compared to SmAT1) across the S. mansoni lifecycle. On the x-axis, each specific life-stage cDNA being tested is indicated. The y-axis represents the ratio of SmVAL gene expression relative to that of SmAT1 (reference gene). Data are presented as mean ratios (+/- standard deviation) from technical duplicates.