Reprint of: Saprolegnia strains isolated from river insects and amphipods are broad spectrum pathogens

Mohammad Nasif Sarowar, Albert Hendrik van den Berg, Debbie McLaggan, Mark R. Young, Pieter van West*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Saprolegnia species are destructive pathogens to many aquatic organisms and are found in most parts of the world. Reports based on phylogenetic analysis suggest that Saprolegnia strains isolated from aquatic animals such as crustaceans and frogs are close to Saprolegnia strains isolated from infected fish or fish eggs and vice versa. However, it has often been assumed that host specificity occurs for each individual isolate or strain. Here we demonstrate that Saprolegnia spp. can have multiple hosts and are thus capable of infecting different aquatic organisms. Saprolegnia delica, Saprolegnia hypogyna, and 2 strains of Saprolegnia diclina were isolated from aquatic insects and amphipods while S. delica, Saprolegnia ferax, Pythium pachycaule, and a Pythium sp. were isolated from the water of a medium to fast flowing river. The ITS region of the rRNA gene was sequenced for all isolates. In challenge experiments, all four isolates from insects were found to be highly pathogenic to eggs of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and embryos of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis). We found that Saprolegnia spp. isolated from salmon eggs were also able to successfully establish infection in nymphs of stonefly (Perla bipunctata) and embryos of X. laevis). These results suggest that Saprolegnia spp. are capable of infecting multiple hosts, which may give them an advantage during seasonal variation in their natural environments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)579-590
Number of pages12
JournalFungal Biology
Volume118
Issue number7
Early online date7 Jun 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2014

Bibliographical note

Our work is supported by the BBSRC, BB/G012075/1 (PvW); NERC, NE/F012578/1 (PvW); the University of Aberdeen (PvW, MY); The Total Foundation (PvW); and Commonwealth Scholarship Commission BDCS-2010-42 (MNS). We also express our sincere gratitude to Prof. Hoppler and Dr Ann M Rajnicek, University of Aberdeen for providing us with X. laevis embryos and advise on incubation techniques. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Diéguez-Uribeondo, Real Jardín Botánico CSIC for providing the S. ferax isolate and to Mr Jose Vladimir Sandoval Sierra for providing valuable insight to the phylogenetic tree.

Keywords

  • Aquatic insects
  • Multiple hosts
  • Salmo salar
  • Saprolegniosis
  • Xenopus laevis

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