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Description of Perkinsus beihaiensis n. sp., a new Perkinsus sp. Parasite in Oysters of Southern China
Author(s) -
MOSS JESSICA A.,
XIAO JIE,
DUNGAN CHRISTOPHER F.,
REECE KIMBERLY S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00314.x
Subject(s) - biology , crassostrea , ribosomal rna , parasite hosting , oyster , internal transcribed spacer , phylogenetic tree , polymerase chain reaction , gene , zoology , ecology , genetics , world wide web , computer science
. Oysters were collected from coastal locations in China from 1999–2006 for parasite analyses by molecular, culture, and histological techniques. Polymerase chain reaction‐based assays targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA gene complex were performed to detect the presence of Perkinsus species. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of amplified Perkinsus sp. DNAs indicated that a novel Perkinsus sp. infects Crassostrea hongkongensis, Crassostrea ariakensis , and other bivalve hosts from Fujian to Guangxi provinces in southern China. Prevalence of this Perkinsus sp. reaches as high as 60% in affected oyster populations. Analyses of nucleotide sequences of the rRNA ITS region and of large subunit rRNA and actin genes, consistently confirmed the genus affiliation of this Perkinsus sp., but distinguished it from currently accepted Perkinsus species. Parasite cell types, such as signet ring trophozoites of 2–8 μm diameter, were observed by histology, and application of both genus Perkinsus and Perkinsus species‐specific in situ hybridization probes consistently labelled the same Perkinsus sp. cells in histological sections from infected oyster tissues. Combined phylogenetic and histological results support the identity of a new parasite species, Perkinsus beihaiensis n. sp.