DNA profiling reveals Neobenedenia girellae as the primary parasitic monogenean in global fisheries and aquaculture

Alexander K Brazenor; Terry Bertozzi; Terrence L Miller; Ian D Whittington; Kate S Hutson

doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.05.012

DNA profiling reveals Neobenedenia girellae as the primary parasitic monogenean in global fisheries and aquaculture

Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2018 Dec:129:130-137. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.05.012. Epub 2018 May 12.

Authors

Alexander K Brazenor¹, Terry Bertozzi², Terrence L Miller³, Ian D Whittington⁴, Kate S Hutson⁵

Affiliations

¹ Marine Parasitology Laboratory, Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia. Electronic address: alexander.brazenor@my.jcu.edu.au.
² The South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
³ Marine Parasitology Laboratory, Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia; Fish Health Laboratory, Department of Fisheries Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6151, Australia.
⁴ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
⁵ Marine Parasitology Laboratory, Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and the College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia.

PMID: 29763664
DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.05.012

Abstract

Accurate identification of parasite species and strains is crucial to mitigate the risk of epidemics and emerging disease. Species of Neobenedenia are harmful monogenean ectoparasites that infect economically important bony fishes in aquaculture worldwide, however, the species boundaries between two of the most notorious taxa, N. melleni and N. girellae, has been a topic of contention for decades. Historically, identifications of Neobenedenia isolates have overwhelmingly been attributed to N. melleni, and it has been proposed that N. girellae is synonymous with N. melleni. We collected 33 Neobenedenia isolates from 22 host species spanning nine countries and amplified three genes including two nuclear (Histone 3 and 28S rDNA) and one mitochondrial (cytochrome b). Four major clades were identified using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses; clades A-D corresponding to N. girellae, N. melleni, N. longiprostata and N. pacifica, respectively. All unidentified isolates and the majority of Neobenedenia sequences from GenBank fell into clade A. The results of this study indicate that N. girellae is a separate species to N. melleni, and that a large proportion of previous samples identified as N. melleni may be erroneous and a revision of identifications is needed. The large diversity of host species that N. girellae is able to infect as determined in this study and the geographic range in which it is present (23.8426°S and 24.1426°N) makes it a globally cosmopolitan species and a threat to aquaculture industries around the world.

Keywords: Capsalidae; Cryptic; Host specificity; Monogenea; Neobenedenia melleni; Phylogeny; Skin fluke.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Aquaculture*
Base Sequence
Bayes Theorem
DNA Fingerprinting*
Fish Diseases / parasitology
Fisheries*
Fishes / parasitology*
Host Specificity
Parasites / genetics*
Parasites / isolation & purification
Phylogeny
Species Specificity
Trematoda / classification
Trematoda / genetics*
Trematoda / isolation & purification