Phylogenetic analysis of apicomplexan parasites infecting commercially valuable species from the North-East Atlantic reveals high levels of diversity and insights into the evolution of the group.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Apicomplexa from aquatic environments are understudied relative to their terrestrial counterparts, and the seminal work assessing the phylogenetic relations of fish-infecting lineages is mostly based on freshwater hosts. The taxonomic uncertainty of some apicomplexan groups, such as the coccidia, is high and many genera were recently shown to be paraphyletic, questioning the value of strict morphological and ecological traits for parasite classification. Here, we surveyed the genetic diversity of the Apicomplexa in several commercially valuable vertebrates from the North-East Atlantic, including farmed fish.

Results

Most of the sequences retrieved were closely related to common fish coccidia of Eimeria, Goussia and Calyptospora. However, some lineages from the

SUBMITTER: Xavier R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5785827 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature