Biodiversity and host-parasite cophylogeny of Sphaerospora (sensu stricto) (Cnidaria: Myxozoa).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Myxozoa are extremely diverse microscopic parasites belonging to the Cnidaria. Their life-cycles alternate between vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, predominantly in aquatic habitats. Members of the phylogenetically well-defined Sphaerospora (sensu stricto) clade predominantly infect the urinary system of marine and freshwater fishes and amphibians. Sphaerosporids are extraordinary due to their extremely long and unique insertions in the variable regions of their 18S and 28S rDNA genes and due to the formation of motile proliferative stages in the hosts' blood. To date, DNA sequences of only 19 species have been obtained and information on the patterns responsible for their phylogenetic clustering is limited.

Methods

We screened 549 fish kidney samples from fish

SUBMITTER: Patra S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6002976 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature