Fig. 4

Differential expression of USP genes in various developmental stages of S. mansoni The mRNA expression levels of SmUSPs were measured, using three replicates, in the following stages: cercariae, MTS-3.5 h, MTS-24 h, MTS-48 h, MTS-72 h, adult worms and eggs using quantitative RT-PCR. Expression levels were calibrated according to the comparative 2^−ΔCt method using the constitutively expressed SmEIF4E as an endogenous control (ANOVA followed by Tukey’s pairwise comparison p < 0.05). *: different from cercariae; **: different from MTS-3.5 h; ***: different from MTS-24 h; ^#: different from MTS-48 h; ^##: different from MTS-72 h; ^###: different from adult worms. a) SmUSP7, SmUSP8, SmUSP9x and SmUSP24. b) SmUSP2, SmUSP15, SmUSP20, SmUSP30, SmUSP36-42, SmUSP39, SmUSP46 and SmUSP49-44. c) SmUSP10, SmUSP14, SmUSP16, SmUSP22 and SmUSP48