Microsporidian Parasites Found in the Hemolymph of Four Baikalian Endemic Amphipods

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 18;10(6):e0130311. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130311. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

At present, approximately 187 genera and over 1300 species of Microsporidia have been described, among which almost half infect aquatic species and approximately 50 genera potentially infect aquatic arthropods. Lake Baikal is the deepest and one of the oldest lakes in the world, and it has a rich endemic fauna with a predominance of arthropods. Among the arthropods living in this lake, amphipods (Crustacea) are the most dominant group and are represented by more than 350 endemic species. Baikalian amphipods inhabit almost all depths and all types of substrates. The age and geographical isolation of this group creates excellent opportunities for studying the diversity, evolution and genetics of host-parasite relationships. However, despite more than 150 years of study, data investigating the microsporidia of Lake Baikal remain incomplete. In this study, we used molecular genetic analyses to detect microsporidia in the hemolymph of several endemic species of amphipods from Lake Baikal. We provide the first evidence that microsporidian species belonging to three genera (Microsporidium, Dictyocoela and Nosema) are present in the hemolymph of Baikalian endemic amphipods. In the hemolymph of Eulimnogammarus verrucosus, we detected SSU rDNA of microsporidia belonging to the genus Nozema. In the hemolymph of Pallasea cancellous, we found the DNA of Microsporidium sp. similar to that in other Baikalian endemic amphipods; Dictyocoela sp. was found in the hemolymph of Eulimnogammarus marituji and Acanthogammarus lappaceus longispinus.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amphipoda / microbiology
  • Amphipoda / parasitology*
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • DNA, Fungal / genetics*
  • DNA, Fungal / isolation & purification
  • Endemic Diseases
  • Hemolymph / microbiology
  • Hemolymph / parasitology*
  • Humans
  • Lakes / microbiology
  • Lakes / parasitology
  • Microsporidia / genetics*
  • Microsporidia / isolation & purification*
  • Phylogeny
  • Russia

Substances

  • DNA, Fungal

Grants and funding

This research was supported by Ministry of education and science of RF as a part of "Goszadanie" (№ 6.382.2014/K, 1354(2014)), grant of Russian Science Foundation (№ 14-14-00400), grant of Russian Foundation for Basic Research (№ 14-04-00501, 14-34-50051, 15-04-06685), CRDF (FSCX-15-61168-0), program of strategic development at Irkutsk State University and grants of ISU for young researchers and DAAD. The support is gratefully acknowledged. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.