Microsporidian parasites: a danger facing marine fishes of the Red Sea

Abdel-Ghaffar, Fathy; Bashtar, Abdel-Rahman; Mehlhorn, Heinz; Al-Rasheid, Khaled A. S.; Morsy, Kareem

doi:10.1007/s00436-010-2061-1

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Given also that microsporidians i) can spread quickly [ 51 ] and widely through fish populations [ 52 ], ii) are the most common pathogen detected in laboratory zebrafish [ 9 ], and iii) can be resistant to routine lab disinfection protocols [ 53 ], we recommend research to determine the frequency of and mechanisms that contribute to heterosporosis-induced mortality. Future field and lab work should also investigate pathways of infection, transmission rates, physiological and behavioral effects, and how these vary with demographics and ecology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prevalence and potential fisheries consequences of Heterosporis sutherlandae in a Minnesota lake

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heterosporis sutherlandae is an emerging microsporidian fish parasite in the Great Lakes region. H. sutherlandae forms lesions in the muscle tissue of fishes important to aquaculture and sport fishing. These lesions render the filet inedible and may have fitness consequences. We evaluated the prevalence and severity of H. sutherlandae among yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in a known-positive Minnesota lake, and used an equilibrium yield model to evaluate impacts on harvest. Twenty-eight percent of the 400 yellow perch sampled were infected with H. sutherlandae. Males were 1.5 times more likely to be infected than females and were more severely infected. The presence of the parasite did not vary with relative weight or age, but infection severity was highest among older individuals that were in better condition. These results suggest that males are more susceptible to infection, and that infection is not associated with maturity or a gape-limiting food source. These results also suggest that heterosporosis increases in severity with time or by increased exposure. Our equilibrium yield model found that a 10% increase in mortality due to H. sutherlandae could result in 30% and 10% reductions in yield and mean catch weight, respectively. The results of this study direct future field sampling and laboratory experiments to further understand and predict the impacts of this parasite.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prevalence and potential fisheries consequences of Heterosporis sutherlandae in a Minnesota lake

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Microsporidial diseases pose significant challenges to the development of marine fish aquaculture, specifically in the North Atlantic (Murchelano, Despres-Patanjo & Ziskowski 1986;Bricknell, Bron & Bowden 2006;Kahn 2009), the North Pacific (Brown, Kent & Adamson 2010) and more recently the Red Sea (Abdel-Ghaffar et al 2011). Of particular significance is the infection of gadoid fishes [e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Loma morhua (Microsporidia) infection on the cardiorespiratory performance of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua (L).

Powell

Gamperl

2015

Journal of Fish Diseases

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The microsporidian Loma morhua infects Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the wild and in culture and results in the formation of xenomas within the gill filaments, heart and spleen. Given the importance of the two former organs to metabolic capacity and thermal tolerance, the cardiorespiratory performance of cod with a naturally acquired infection of Loma was measured during an acute temperature increase (2°C h À1) from 10°C to the fish's critical thermal maximum (CT Max ). In addition, oxygen consumption and swimming performance were measured during two successive critical swimming speed (U crit ) tests at 10°C. While Loma infection had a negative impact on cod cardiac function at warm temperatures, and on metabolic capacity in both the CT Max and U crit tests (i.e. a reduction of 30-40%), it appears that the Atlantic cod can largely compensate for these Loma-induced cardiorespiratory limitations. For example, (i) CT Max (21.0 AE 0.3°C) and U crit (~1.75 BL s À1) were very comparable to those reported in previous studies using uninfected fish from the same founder population; and (ii) our data suggest that tissue oxygen extraction, and potentially the capacity for anaerobic metabolism, is enhanced in fish infected with this microsporidian.

show abstract

“…So far, only one case of microsporidia infection in the deep sea is reported but is actually carried out by the metazoan parasite Myxosporea (Dubina and Isakov, 1976). Although little is known about microsporidia in the deep sea, microsporidia were recently shown by ultrastructural and molecular approaches to be genuine parasites of hosts in various marine habitats including shallow water fish and nematodes in the low tide zone (Abdel-Ghaffar et al, 2011; Ardila-Garcia and Fast, 2012). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microsporidia-nematode associations in methane seeps reveal basal fungal parasitism in the deep sea

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The deep sea is Earth's largest habitat but little is known about the nature of deep-sea parasitism. In contrast to a few characterized cases of bacterial and protistan parasites, the existence and biological significance of deep-sea parasitic fungi is yet to be understood. Here we report the discovery of a fungus-related parasitic microsporidium, Nematocenator marisprofundi n. gen. n. sp. that infects benthic nematodes at methane seeps on the Pacific Ocean floor. This infection is species-specific and has been temporally and spatially stable over 2 years of sampling, indicating an ecologically consistent host-parasite interaction. A high distribution of spores in the reproductive tracts of infected males and females and their absence from host nematodes' intestines suggests a sexual transmission strategy in contrast to the fecal-oral transmission of most microsporidia. N. marisprofundi targets the host's body wall muscles causing cell lysis, and in severe infection even muscle filament degradation. Phylogenetic analyses placed N. marisprofundi in a novel and basal clade not closely related to any described microsporidia clade, suggesting either that microsporidia-nematode parasitism occurred early in microsporidia evolution or that host specialization occurred late in an ancient deep-sea microsporidian lineage. Our findings reveal that methane seeps support complex ecosystems involving interkingdom interactions between bacteria, nematodes, and parasitic fungi and that microsporidia parasitism exists also in the deep-sea biosphere.

show abstract

Microsporidian parasites: a danger facing marine fishes of the Red Sea

Cited by 25 publications

References 30 publications

The prevalence and potential fisheries consequences of Heterosporis sutherlandae in a Minnesota lake

The prevalence and potential fisheries consequences of Heterosporis sutherlandae in a Minnesota lake

Effects of Loma morhua (Microsporidia) infection on the cardiorespiratory performance of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua (L).

Microsporidia-nematode associations in methane seeps reveal basal fungal parasitism in the deep sea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About