Description of a myxozoan parasite Myxobolus sp.n PKB2014 from an edible fish, with emphasis on its molecular characterization

Abstract

In India, more than 104 species of Myxobolus have so far been reported infecting freshwater as well as marine fishes. The study focuses on the description of a new myxosporean species, Myxobolus sp.n PKB 2014 from the gill lamellae of an Indian major carp Labeo rohita. The species have been described on the basis of morphological characterization of the spores, tissue architecture and 18S rDNA sequence data. The plasmodia of Myxobolus sp.n PKB 2014 were round in shape measuring, 50 to 70 μm in diameter and spores were ellipsoidal in frontal view measures 14.7 ± 0.51 μm. The 18S rRNA nucleotide sequence with 806 bp of Myxobolus sp.n PKB 2014 (Accession number KJ652226) clustered phylogenitically with other Myxobolus spp. infecting cyprinid gills with 90-99% similarity. According to the phylogenetic study we concluded that M. wulli was the closest relative having 99% similarity with the species under description but the sequence was distinct in each species which additionally exhibited different morphological features. The infection rate was low to moderate. After through comparison it can be concluded that the species being described here is new to science which is designated as Myxobolus sp.n. PKB 2014.