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Ultrastructural morphology and phylogeny of Henneguya gilbert n. sp. (Myxozoa) infecting the teleostean Cyphocharax gilbert (Characiformes: Curimatidae) from Brazil

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Abstract

This paper describes light and ultrastructural observations and molecular analysis of a fish-infecting myxosporean, Henneguya gilbert n. sp., which was found infecting the gill epithelium of the commercially important freshwater teleost fish Cyphocharax gilbert (Curimatidae) collected in the estuarine region of Guandu River, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The parasite occurs in the gills, forming whitish spherical to ellipsoidal polysporic cysts measuring up to ~ 750 μm, and displaying asynchronous development. Mature myxospores are ellipsoidal with a bifurcated caudal process. The length, width and thickness of the body of the myxospore are 12.0 × 5.3 × 3.6 μm, respectively; two equal caudal processes are 16.8 μm long, and the total length of the myxospore is 27.2 μm. There are two unequal polar capsules: the larger measures 5.5 μm length × 1.3 μm width and has a polar filament with 9–10 coils; the smaller is 4.0 μm long × 1.3 μm wide and has a polar filament with 7–8 coils. The sporoplasm is binucleated and presents a spherical vacuole surrounded by numerous globular sporoplasmosomes. Phylogenetic analysis, based on the small subunit rRNA sequencing, using maximum likelihood method reveals the parasite clustering together with other myxobolids that are histozoic and parasitize freshwater fish of the order Characiformes, thereby strengthening the contention that the host phylogenetic relationships and aquatic environment are the strongest evolutionary signals for myxosporeans of the family Myxobolidae.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Eng. A. Almeida Foundation (Porto, Portugal), “CNPq-Brazil”, “IBAMA – Process 27119”, International Scientific Partnership Program (ISPP#0067 at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the Ph.D. fellowship grant attributed by “FCT”-Lisbon (Process SFRH/BD/92661/2013) to S. Rocha through the programme POPH/FSE QREN. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewer for their helpful suggestions and comments to improve the article. This work complies with the current laws of the countries in which it was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Institute of Health Sciences & Institute of Research and Advanced Training in Health Sciences and Technologies, CESPU, 4585-116, Gandra, Portugal

    Graça Casal

  2. Laboratory of Animal Pathology, Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR/UP), University of Porto, 4450-208, Matosinhos, Portugal

    Graça Casal, Sónia Rocha & Carlos Azevedo

  3. Laboratory of Fish Inspection, Faculty of Veterinary, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, RJ, 24210-240, Brazil

    Sérgio C. São Clemente, Leila Lopes & Nilza Felizardo

  4. Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS/UP), University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, No. 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal

    Sónia Rocha, Elsa Oliveira & Carlos Azevedo

  5. Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Saleh Al-Quraishy & Carlos Azevedo

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  1. Graça Casal
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  2. Sérgio C. São Clemente
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Correspondence to Carlos Azevedo.

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Casal, G., São Clemente, S.C., Lopes, L. et al. Ultrastructural morphology and phylogeny of Henneguya gilbert n. sp. (Myxozoa) infecting the teleostean Cyphocharax gilbert (Characiformes: Curimatidae) from Brazil. Parasitol Res 116, 2747–2756 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5585-9

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