title: Morphological and molecular characterisation of Myxobolus pronini n. sp. (Myxozoa: Myxobolidae) from the abdominal cavity and visceral serous membranes of the gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio (Bloch) in Russia and China.
abstract: Myxozoa is a well-known economically and ecologically important group of metazoan parasites, phylogenetically related to Cnidaria. High diversity of myxosporeans has been recorded in Russia and China; however, most of the species were solely morphologically characterised. Here, we identified a new gibel carp-infecting Myxobolus species and morphologically and molecularly compared the Russian and Chinese isolates of this new myxosporean.
  
  
  
  Myxobolus pronini n. sp. was found free in the abdominal cavity of Carassius auratus gibelio (Bloch, 1782) in Lake Baikal watershed, Russia, and embedded in the visceral serous membranes of the same fish species in Lake Taibai, Hubei province, China. The morphometric data of the plasmodia and mature spores exhibited some differences between the Russian and Chinese isolates, but SSU rDNA sequences indicated that these two geographical isolates are conspecific. The mature spores from the two locations are obovate in frontal view, with wider anterior than posterior end and lemon-shaped in sutural view. Spores of the Russian isolate were 14.3-16.2 (mean 15.1 ± 0.2) μm long, 9.6-10.8 (10.1 ± 0.1) μm wide and 6.4-7.4 (6.7 ± 0.15) μm thick; those of the Chinese isolate were 13.8-15.6 (14.7 ± 0.24) μm long, 9.6-13.3 (9.6 ± 0.65) μm wide and 6.2-7.2 (6.6 ± 0.16) μm thick. The newly-generated rDNA sequences (including SSU rDNA, ITS and LSU rDNA) from the two isolates represented some variations within the intraspecific range. Homology search by BLAST showed that the newly obtained rDNA sequences do not match any sequences available on GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis based on the aligned partial SSU rDNA sequences indicated that this novel species clustered with several gibel carp-infecting Myxobolus spp. with round anterior end of spores. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis based on all obtained ITS sequences showed that distinct genetic geographical differentiation occurred for this new parasite.
  
  
  
  Myxobolus pronini n. sp. is described by integrating morphological, ecological and molecular evidence. Two geographical isolates of this species showed some morphological and genetic differences but within the intraspecific range of variation.
authors: Fish Diseases Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, 430072, Wuhan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 10049, China.
authors: Xin-Hua
authors: XH
authors: Liu
authors: Institute of General and Experimental Biology of Siberian Branch RAS, Ulan-Ude, Russia.
authors: Marina-D
authors: MD
authors: Batueva
authors: Fish Diseases Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, 430072, Wuhan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 10049, China.
authors: Yuan-Li
authors: YL
authors: Zhao
authors: Fish Diseases Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, 430072, Wuhan, China. zhanjy@ihb.ac.cn.|University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 10049, China. zhanjy@ihb.ac.cn.
authors: Jin-Yong
authors: JY
authors: Zhang
authors: Fish Diseases Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, 430072, Wuhan, China.
authors: Qian-Qian
authors: QQ
authors: Zhang
authors: Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 610041, Chengdu, China.
authors: Tong-Tong
authors: TT
authors: Li
authors: Fish Diseases Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Science, 430072, Wuhan, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 10049, China.
authors: Ai-Hua
authors: AH
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D034841:Abdominal Cavity / Q000469:parasitology; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D006054:Goldfish / Q000469:parasitology*; D055766:Myxobolus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010273:Parasitic Diseases, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D012426:Russia; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012704:Serous Membrane / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; C065096:RNA, ribosomal, 26S
keywords: Abdominal cavity; Carassius auratus gibelio; China; Geographical variation; Gibel carp; Myxobolus pronini n. sp; Russia; Serous membranes