Folia Parasitologica 71:015 (2024) | DOI: 10.14411/fp.2024.015

Unraveling the mystery of a myxozoan parasite of the trout: redescription of Chloromyxum schurovi

Martina Lisnerová ORCID...¹, Pavla Bartošová-Sojková ORCID...¹, Monika Bürgerová ORCID...^{1, 2}, Ivan Fiala ORCID...^{1, 2}

¹ Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic;

² Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic *Address for correspondence: Martina Lisnerová, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Parasitology, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic. E-mail: lisnerova@paru.cas.cz; ORCID-iD: 0000-0003-3565-4816.

Myxozoans are microscopical parasites widely distributed in fish, with over 2,600 described species, but their actual diversity is still underestimated. Among salmonids, more than 70 myxozoan species have been identified. This study focuses on species of Chloromyxum Mingazzini, 1890 that infect salmonid kidneys, particularly C. majori Yasutake et Wood, 1957 and C. schurovi Shulman et Ieshko, 2003. Despite their similar spore morphology, they exhibit distinct host preferences, tissue affinities and geographical distributions. Chloromyxum schurovi predominantly infects the renal tubules of Salmo salar Linnaues and S. trutta Linnaeus in Europe, while C. majori targets the glomeruli of Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum) and O. tshawytscha (Walbaum) in North America. The sequence data for C. majori and C. schurovi have been either missing or questionable. In our study, we examined the kidneys of two salmonid species for chloromyxid infections, using both morphological and molecular data to characterise Chloromyxum species in salmonids. The sequence of C. schurovi obtained in our study did not match the previously published parasite data. Instead, it clustered as an independent lineage sister to the Paramyxidium Freeman et Kristmundsson, 2018 clade gathering the species from various fish organs, including the urinary tract. Our findings clarified the taxonomic origin of the previous C. schurovi sequence as Myxidium giardi Cépède, 1906, highlighting the risks associated with the presence of myxozoan blood stages in the bloodstream of their fish host and the challenges of non-specific PCR amplification. We redescribe C. schurovi, thus contributing to a better understanding of the diversity and phylogeny of kidney-infecting species of Chloromyxum.

Keywords: Myxozoan diversity, phylogeny, PCR screening, Salmo trutta

Received: May 10, 2024; Revised: June 28, 2024; Accepted: July 21, 2024; Published online: September 4, 2024  Show citation