A molecular identification key for freshwater mussel glochidia encysted on naturally parasitized fish hosts in Maine, USA

Kneeland, Stephen C.; Rhymer, Judith M.

doi:10.1093/mollus/eym017

Cited by 22 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The information on leeches has been recently updated (Klemm et al, 2013, and references therein) and molecular approaches are being used to identify the glochidia of unionids (Gustafson and Iwamoto, 2005;Kneeland and Rhymer, 2007;Boyer et al, 2011).…”

Section: Knowledge Of Parasite Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasites of Freshwater Fishes In North America: Why So Neglected?

Scholz

Choudhury

2014

Journal of Parasitology

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Fish parasitology has a long tradition in North America and numerous parasitologists have contributed considerably to the current knowledge of the diversity and biology of protistan and metazoan parasites of freshwater fishes. The Journal of Parasitology has been essential in disseminating this knowledge and remains a significant contributor to our understanding of fish parasites in North America as well as more broadly at the international level. However, with a few exceptions, the importance of fish parasites has decreased during the last decades, which is reflected in the considerable decline of funding and corresponding decrease of attention paid to these parasites in Canada and the United States of America. After the 'golden age' in the second half of the 20th Century, fish parasitology in Canada and the United States went in a new direction, driven by technology and a shift in priorities. In contrast, fish parasitology in Mexico has undergone rapid development since the early 1990s, partly due to extensive international collaboration and governmental funding. A critical review of the current data on the parasites of freshwater fishes in North America has revealed considerable gaps in the knowledge of their species composition, host specificity, life cycles, evolution, phylogeography, and relationships with their fish hosts. As to the key question, "Why so neglected?" this is probably because: (1) fish parasites are not in the forefront due to their lesser economic importance; (2) there is little funding for this kind of research, especially if a practical application is not immediately apparent; and (3) of shifting interests and a shortage of key personalities to train a new generation (they switched to marine habitats or other fields). Some of the opportunities for future research are outlined, such as climate change and cryptic species diversity. A significant problem challenging future research seems to be the loss of trained and experienced fish parasitologists. This has 2 major ramifications: the loss of expertise in identifying organisms that other biologists (e.g., ecologists, molecular biologists, evolutionists) work with, and an incomplete comprehension of ecosystem structure and function in the face of climate change, emerging diseases, and loss of biodiversity.

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Section: Knowledge Of Parasite Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasites of Freshwater Fishes In North America: Why So Neglected?

Scholz

Choudhury

2014

Journal of Parasitology

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“…Mitochondrial markers used in this respect include cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) (e.g., Gustafson and Iwamoto 2005), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (NDI) (e.g., Kneeland and Rhymer 2007), and the 16s ribosomal RNA gene (e.g., McCartney et al 2009). Basing unionoid identification keys on mitochondrial genes can, however, be problematic due to some of the taxa's unusual, doubly uniparental mode of inheritance, resulting in two different mtDNA genomes in male gonadal tissues (Breton et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying freshwater mussels (Unionoida) and parasitic glochidia larvae from host fish gills: a molecular key to the North and Central European species

Zieritz

Gum

Kuehn

et al. 2012

Ecology and Evolution

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Freshwater mussels (order Unionoida) represent one of the most severely endangered groups of animals due to habitat destruction, introduction of nonnative species, and loss of host fishes, which their larvae (glochidia) are obligate parasites on. Conservation efforts such as habitat restoration or restocking of host populations are currently hampered by difficulties in unionoid species identification by morphological means. Here we present the first complete molecular identification key for all seven indigenous North and Central European unionoid species and the nonnative Sinanodonta woodiana, facilitating quick, low-cost, and reliable identification of adult and larval specimens. Application of this restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) key resulted in 100% accurate assignment of 90 adult specimens from across the region by digestion of partial ITS-1 (where ITS is internal transcribed spacer) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products in two to four single digestions with five restriction endonucleases. In addition, we provide protocols for quick and reliable extraction and amplification of larval mussel DNA from complete host fish gill arches. Our results indicate that this new method can be applied on infection rates as low as three glochidia per gill arch and enables, for the first time, comprehensive, large-scale assessments of the relative importance of different host species for given unionoid populations.

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“…Diverse mussel communities present logistical and methodological complications, including acquired immunity to infestation due to previous exposure to glochidia of other mussel species (Rogers & Dimock, 2003;Dodd et al, 2005) and difficulties with identification of encysted glochidia (Kennedy & Haag, 2005). Although molecular markers have been used to distinguish among species of encysted glochidia (White, McPheron & Stauffer, 1996;Kneeland & Rhymer, 2007), this is a very laborious process when one wishes to determine rates of infestation of individual mussel species on suites of potential host species. As techniques and funds become available, additional systems should be examined, and the fundamental and realised niche space should be compared for other species, particularly in communities where more species exist and interspecific interactions are possible.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological and ecological hosts ofPopenaias popeii(Bivalvia: Unionidae): laboratory studies identify more hosts than field studies

Levine¹,

Lang²,

Berg³

2012

Freshwater Biology

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Summary 1. Freshwater mussels are critically endangered in North America, making it important to understand their environmental requirements at all life stages. As glochidia (larvae), they attach to fish hosts where they undergo substantial mortality, making this transition important in their life cycle. Larval host fish requirements have typically been described using data from laboratory infestations to determine suitable hosts. 2. Laboratory infestations circumvent many natural barriers that prevent infestation of physiologically compatible fishes by mussel larvae. While such methods are invaluable for identifying ‘physiological hosts,’ they cannot fully describe realised ‘ecological hosts’ in the field. 3. We studied Popenaias popeii in the Black River in New Mexico, because it is of conservation concern and it is the only mussel species present, facilitating identification of glochidial infestation. To explore the difference between physiological hosts and ecological hosts, we conducted a 3‐year field study of fishes infested by P. popeii glochidia. 4. Substantially fewer fish species were infested by P. popeii in the wild (10 of 20 observed) than had been identified as physiological hosts in laboratory trials (24 of 31). We combined data on fish abundance, proportion of fish hosts infested (prevalence) and the number of glochidia per fish (intensity) and identified three fish species that probably contributed substantially more to mussel recruitment by carrying more glochidia than other host species. 5. Similarities in behaviour among these fishes allowed us to hypothesise routes of infestation, such as benthos‐feeding by catostomids, that allow glochidia to infest these hosts at higher rates than other suitable hosts. Overall, this approach provides a method of quantifying the relative importance of different species of host fish in the mussel lifecycle.

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A molecular identification key for freshwater mussel glochidia encysted on naturally parasitized fish hosts in Maine, USA

Cited by 22 publications

References 11 publications

Parasites of Freshwater Fishes In North America: Why So Neglected?

Parasites of Freshwater Fishes In North America: Why So Neglected?

Identifying freshwater mussels (Unionoida) and parasitic glochidia larvae from host fish gills: a molecular key to the North and Central European species

Physiological and ecological hosts ofPopenaias popeii(Bivalvia: Unionidae): laboratory studies identify more hosts than field studies

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