title: Morphological and molecular characterization of actinosporeans infecting oligochaete Branchiura sowerbyi from Chinese carp ponds.
abstract: We surveyed the actinosporean stages of fish myxosporeans at fish farms in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2011 to 2014. During the surveys, we identified 7 actinosporean types from 4 collective groups: echinactinomyxon (1 type), triactinomyxon (1 type), aurantiactinomyxon (1 type), and neoactinomyxum (4 types), released by the oligochaete Branchiura sowerbyi. The morphological characteristics and DNA sequences of these types are described here. Based on 18S rDNA sequence analysis, the actinosporean of echinactinomyxon type CZ with 4 branches at the end of the caudal processes was identified as Myxobolus wulii, and the neoactinomyxum type JD was identified as Thelohanellus wangi Yuan, Xi, Wang, Xie, Zhang, 2015 (JX458816), a recently nominated species from the gills of allogynogenetic gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio. In addition, actinosporeans of aurantiactinomyxon type JD, neoactinomyxum type CZ-1, neoactinomyxum type CZ-2, and neoactinomyxum type CZ-3 showed high genetic similarity to T. wuhanensis (96.3-96.5%), T. nikolskii (98.0-99.1%), T. wuhanensis (97.8-98.9%), and T. hovorkai (98.7-98.9%), respectively. Phylogenetic analyses showed that these actinosporeans were robustly clustered in the Thelohanellus spp. clade.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, 214081 Wuxi, PR China.
authors.forename: Bing-Wen
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.forename: Zhi-Gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Liang-Kun
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Ya-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xian-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Ge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D002347:Carps; D002681:China; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D055764:Myxozoa / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny