1. Design interface Unlike the relationship between malarial parasites and humans (ignoring the parasite going into the dormant hypnozoite), the relationship between Schistosoma spp. and humans can last for years and even decades. The adult worms and humans are engaged in something more like two organisms that have identified themselves but have a truce. During this truce, both species maintain autonomy and present their identities using cell surface and secreted proteins. Crosnier et al. (2022) found more than 100 proteins unique to the cell surface and secretions of Schistosoma mansoni. Additionally, schistosomatids are somewhat unique in that they have separate sexes. Most parasitic species of Phylum Platyhelminthes are monoecious, possessing both male and female gonads and producing male and female gametes. Having separate sexes, require females to seek out males or never mature and starve to death. Once they find them using cell markers found on the surface of and by protein secreted by males, the females enter a canal in the male body and live out their lifecycle. Schistosome parasites, like Plasmodium individuals, must survive in two physiologically and chemically distinct hosts. They survive in humans, mostly by evasion of the immune system and not by taking control of the host. However, they do employ some host control mechanisms. The first of these allows the cercariae (larval stage) to penetrate through the epidermis, basement membrane, and dermis to reach blood vessels underneath. While dodging immune cells in the skin, the parasites secrete materials that break down cell-cell junctions in the human tissues allowing them to take the three-day long journey through the incredible barrier (Hambrook and Hanington 2021). When dodging the immune cells does not work and the worms need to exert more control on individual immune cells or the entire immune response, they release immune modulators such as the anti-inflammatory protein Sm16/SmSLP/SmSPO-1. This renders the immune system useless in preventing the complete penetration by the worm through the outer defense. Interestingly, many Schistosomatids of birds, such as flukes in the genus Ornithobilharzia, cannot stop the inflammation response in humans and never make it through the skin. Instead, they die in the skin and trigger a great deal of inflammation causing “swimmer’s itch” (Ingle and Aaron 2015). After the worms have made it through the skin and journey through the human body to reach the place they transform into adults, the relationship with the immune system changes. The adult worms live in vessels that carry blood away from the intestines (S. mansoni and S. japonicum) or bladder (S. haematobium). To get the eggs out of the host, the parasite must induce the immune system to form granulomas around the eggs and carry the granuloma through the lining of the intestines or bladder where the granuloma containing eggs can be extruded in feces or urine (Schwartz and Fallon 2018). Like the situation with malaria, human cells have little to no control over the parasites other than to try to eliminate them. The immune resistant tegument of Schistosoma spp. makes this very difficult (Hambrook and Hanington 2021). Schistosomatids thrive in the bodies of vertebrates, inflecting birds and mammals. The parasites find an abundant food source in venule erythrocytes draining organs and manipulate the chemical environment to their advantage (Hambrook and Hanington 202; Ingle and Aaron 2015). At least three genera of Family Schistosomatidae complete the life cycle in mammals, with Schistosoma functioning well in humans. Data suggest that as many as 70% of the larvae may die as they enter an adult by penetrating the skin and traveling the entire blood stream, moving through lung capillaries. The working of a non-corrupted immune system acting as an interface is demonstrated as it helps the parasite develop properly with interleukin-7 helping worms complete their journey through the human body and helping female worms produce more eggs (Wolowczuk et al. 1999). But this host-worm relationship has been corrupted. Extreme pathology results from an exuberant inflammatory response primarily from the effects of TNF coupled with blockages from the granulomas containing parasite eggs. The worms suffer only if the host dies because of the infection. 2. Original design interface Family Schistosomatidae may be a holobaramin, representing a single created kind that has diversified into genera and species since the Fall (Ingle and Aaron 2015; Wood and Murray 2003). Because we would expect a created kind that God would call very good to benefit the host, it seems likely that this group was created to benefit the host (Ingle 2015). Therefore, it seems likely that this group was created to live in birds, but the robust design allowed them to switch hosts into mammals (Ingle and Aaron 2015). It seems that the switch to mammals put the symbiont into a host that was equipped to exert control and keep the parasites from becoming too abundant. That is one of the known functions of certain protocols of an interface system. These new hosts’ inflammatory response becomes dysregulated when eggs are released and avoid blockages. It should be noted that many humans (especially those that live in areas where Schistosoma spp. are endemic) show reduced pathology with the parasite compared with others. This can be explained when remembering that the pathology is almost exclusively the result of the human inflammatory response and not the parasite itself. As Family Schistosomatidae has diversified through time, it has become more specialized with species infecting a smaller variety of hosts. The more specialized the species of Schistosomatidae, the more severe the pathogenicity (Ingle and Aaron 2015). Data suggest that as schistosomatid authentication and protocols have consistently deteriorated from the original ancestor, relational disruption has occurred resulting in harmful parasitism. V. CONCLUSIONS How do two autonomous entities with distinct boundaries work together? This question is answered with a principle of design indispensable to engineering practice. For two autonomous entities with distinct boundaries to work together, they must be connected by an interface with three distinctive elements: authentication mechanisms, standardized protocols, and a mutually accessible medium to all entities involved. There are several implications based on this principle being true. The interface designer’s thorough knowledge of all systems to be integrated is essential. Creationists and ID advocates should begin to accentuate this point when making the case for an engineering-based approach to biology. This greatly compounds the “what-is-the-source-of-information” question. It is difficult enough to come up with a plausible evolutionary explanation for the information carried by DNA. Now, a natural explanation would have to HENNIGAN, GULIUZZA, INGLE, and LANSDELL Interface systems model in key global symbiotic relationships 2023 ICC 237
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