Repatriation of an old fish host as an opportunity for myxozoan parasite diversity: The example of the allis shad, Alosa alosa (Clupeidae), in the Rhine

0463281 - BC 2017 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Wünnemann, H. - Holzer, Astrid S. - Pecková, Hana - Bartošová-Sojková, Pavla - Eskens, U. - Lierz, M.
Repatriation of an old fish host as an opportunity for myxozoan parasite diversity: The example of the allis shad, Alosa alosa (Clupeidae), in the Rhine.
Parasites & Vectors. Roč. 9, č. 1 (2016), s. 505. ISSN 1756-3305. E-ISSN 1756-3305
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GBP505/12/G112; GA MŠMT LM2015062
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : host reintroduction * Alosa alosa * parasite population structure * Hoferellus alosae n. sp. * Myxozoa * diversity * SNPs
Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine
Impact factor: 3.035, year: 2016

Wildlife repatriation represents an opportunity for parasites. Reintroduced hosts are expected to accumulate generalist parasites via spillover from reservoir hosts, whereas colonization with specialist parasites is unlikely. We address the question of how myxozoan parasites, which are characterized by a complex life-cycle alternating between annelids and fish, can invade a reintroduced fish species and determine the impact of a de novo invasion on parasite diversity. We investigated the case of the anadromous allis shad, Alosa alosa (L.), which was reintroduced into the Rhine approximately 70 years after its extinction in this river system.
We describe Hoferellus alosae n. sp. from the renal tubules of allis shad by use of morphological and molecular methods. A species-specific PCR assay determined that the prevalence of H. alosae n. sp. is 100 % in sexually mature fish in the Garonne/Dordogne river systems and 22 % in the first mature shad returning to spawn in the Rhine. The diversity of SSU rDNA clones of the parasite was up to four times higher in the Rhine and lacked a site-specific signature of SNPs such as in the French rivers. A second myxozoan, Ortholinea sp., was detected exclusively in allis shad from the Rhine.
Our data demonstrate that the de novo establishment of myxozoan infections in rivers is slow but of great genetic diversity, which can only be explained by the introduction of spores from genetically diverse sources, predominantly via straying fish or by migratory piscivorous birds. Long-term studies will show if and how the high diversity of a de novo introduction of host-specific myxozoans succeeds into the establishment of a local successful strain in vertebrate and invertebrate hosts.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0262509