Abstract
Myxosporeans Chloromyxum cristatum, Chloromyxum fluviatile and Zschokkella nova (Myxozoa) are common gall bladder parasites of the cyprinid fishes frequently persisting as co-infections. Despite the fact that they are believed to be innocuous endocommensals, C. cristatum clearly displays the potential of a serious pathogen since it may pervade fish liver parenchyma and cause its necrosis. Employing the comparison of genetic distances among the myxosporean rDNA sequences and performing phylogenetic analyses, we demonstrate that cryptic species assemblages exist in C. fluviatile and Z. nova. Sequence comparison revealed that Chloromyxum legeri, previously assigned as a junior synonym of C. fluviatile, is a valid species. The same method is used to display the distinction of Z. nova isolates from China and the Czech Republic. We show that C. cristatum is not an assemblage of more species, and our results support the synonymy of Chloromyxum cyprini with C. cristatum. We have developed a multiplex PCR as an effective tool for the detection and discrimination of Z. nova, C. cristatum, and C. fluviatile. It is especially advantageous for the distinction of the non-mature plasmodia of both Chloromyxum species. This method also helped to assess the exact prevalence of these parasites in examined samples and enabled to select single-infected host samples for the intended population studies.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. Iva Dyková (Biology Centre AS CR, Czech Republic) for the gall bladder samples used in this study. Our special thanks belong to Prof. Tomáš Scholz (Biology Centre AS CR, Czech Republic) for his valuable comments. The present study was supported by the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (KJB600960701), the Grant Agency of the University of South Bohemia (04-GAJU-43), the research project of the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia (MSM 6007665801), the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (524/03/H133) and research projects of the Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Z60220518 and LC 522).
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An alignment of the concatenated SSU and LSU rDNA data with marked LSU rDNA D regions and primer locations (PDF 1057 kb)
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Bartošová, P., Fiala, I. Molecular evidence for the existence of cryptic species assemblages of several myxosporeans (Myxozoa). Parasitol Res 108, 573–583 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-2100-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-2100-y