First report of Eimeria myoxi in the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus Linnaeus, 1766) from Doñana Natural Area (Andalusia, SW Spain)

Seila Couso-Pérez; Xosé Pardavila; Francisco Carro; Elvira Ares-Mazás; Hipólito Gómez-Couso

doi:10.1016/j.parint.2023.102740

First report of Eimeria myoxi in the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus Linnaeus, 1766) from Doñana Natural Area (Andalusia, SW Spain)

Parasitol Int. 2023 Jun:94:102740. doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2023.102740. Epub 2023 Feb 18.

Authors

Seila Couso-Pérez¹, Xosé Pardavila², Francisco Carro², Elvira Ares-Mazás³, Hipólito Gómez-Couso⁴

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain; Nanotechnology and Integrated BioEngineering Centre, School of Engineering, Ulster University, Belfast Campus, 2-24 York Street, Belfast BT15 1AP, United Kingdom.
² Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC), Avenida Américo Vespucio s/n 41001, Sevilla, Spain.
³ Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain.
⁴ Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain; Research Institute on Chemical and Biological Analysis, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. Electronic address: hipolito.gomez@usc.es.

PMID: 36804597
DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2023.102740

Abstract

This work reports for the first time the presence and molecular characterization of Eimeria myoxi in the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) from the Doñana Natural Area (Andalusia, SW Spain). Fresh faecal samples were collected from a total of 28 garden dormice, which were caught following current guidelines for the ethical use of animals in research, and processing by a standard flotation technique with saturated saline solution. Then, wet drops were examined microscopically, and the number of oocysts was semi-quantified. Eimeria oocysts were observed in 16 of the 28 (57.1%) faecal samples, showing most of them a very low number of oocysts (≤1 oocyst per microscopic field × 400). The unsporulated oocysts visualized in 16 faecal samples were subspherical and of length 19.2 ± 1.2 μm and width 17.4 ± 1.1 μm, being morphologically compatible with E. myoxi. This finding was supported by molecular analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU-rRNA) gene, identifying the same species in 22 of the 28 (78.6%) dormice, including 15 samples in which oocyst size was compatible with E. myoxi. Moreover, the subsequent analyses of the apicoplast open reading frame 470 (ORF470) and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genes confirmed the molecular identification of the isolates as E. myoxi. The phylogeny analyses were consistent with previous phylogenetic studies and support the existence of three lineages of rodent-infecting Eimeria species.

Keywords: Eimeria myoxi; Eliomys quercinus; Gliridae; Molecular characterization; Spain.

MeSH terms

Animals
Coccidiosis* / epidemiology
Coccidiosis* / veterinary
Eimeria*
Myoxidae* / parasitology
Oocysts
Phylogeny
Spain / epidemiology