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Parts of the natural life cycle of Echinococcus granulosus can be retraced in vitro such as the development of protoscoleces into semiadult worms with three or more proglottids, or the redifferentiation of in vitro cultured protoscoleces into metacestode-like cystic structures. Most in vitro generated samples share—at the microscopical level—high similarities with those naturally grown, but developmental differences have also been documented, such as missing egg production in in vitro grown adults or unusual bladder/vesicle formation in protoscoleces cultured into the metacestode direction. The aim of the present study was to explore how far different in vitro generated stage-specific materials/structures match the natural situation on the transcriptome level, based on testing five exemplarily chosen different genes: the frizzled receptor eg-fz4 (posterior marker), the FGF receptor-like factor eg-fgfrl (anterior …