title: The life cycle of Chloromyxum auratum (Myxozoa) from goldfish, Carassius auratus (L.), involves an antonactinomyxon actinospore.
abstract: The myxozoan parasite Chloromyxum auratumHallett, Atkinson, Holt, Banner & Bartholomew, 2006, was shown experimentally to have a two-host life cycle which involved a previously undescribed antonactinomyxon actinospore stage. Myxospores obtained from gall bladders of naturally infected feral goldfish, Carassius auratus (L.), were used to infect samples of mixed species of oligochaete worms obtained from the same locality as the fish: Fern Ridge Dam, Oregon, USA. After some 110 days post-exposure, actinospores were detected from the water above the oligochaetes. The 18S rDNA sequence of these actinospores was identical to the original myxospores. Spore release was sporadic, of low intensity and short duration, which confounded efforts to identify the host oligochaete species and infect naïve fish. This is the first life cycle that incorporates an actinospore of the collective group Antonactinomyxon, and the first life cycle demonstrated in the laboratory for a species of Chloromyxum.
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hallett
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bartholomew
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D005618:Fresh Water; D006054:Goldfish / Q000469:parasitology*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000502:physiology*; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000469:parasitology; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D033761:Spores, Protozoan / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S