Susceptibility to Sphaerothecum Destruens

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Susceptibility to Sphaerothecum Destruens Sphaerothecum destruens: Life history traits and host range. Dimitra Andreou Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff School of Biosciences Cardiff University May 2010 UMI Number: U585B65 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U585365 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 To my family and kindred spirit Miss Aria Johnson. DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed Date ... 13-05-2010... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment o f the requirements for the degree o f PhD. ^Jff&nzoOL Signed Date ... 13-05-2010... STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. ^Jlllc/reou- Signed Date ... 13-05-2010... STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed Date ... 13-05-2010... Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Rudy Gozlan (Bournemouth University), Dr Sian Griffiths (Cardiff University), Dr Mark Hussey (CEH Oxford) and Dr David Stone (Cefas, Weymouth) for their help and support. A big thank you goes to Dr Kristen Arkush (Bodega Marine Laboratory) for her help, support and stimulating conversations on Sphaerothecum destruens. Also, thank you to Holly Mendonca (Bodega Marine Laboratory)for help with S. destruens PCR. Also the following: From the Cefas Laboratory in Weymouth: Dr Stephen Feist for his help, support and for introducing me to the world o f fish histopathology! Dr Richard Paley for all his help with experimental design, cell culture and support. Dr Stephen Irving for opening the doors to the Cefas laboratory and always making me feel welcome. Mathew Green and the rest o f the histology team for all their invaluable help with histology samples. Dr Alan Reese with help on statistical analysis. All the members of the virology team for welcoming me in their lab and everybody at Cefas for always being friendly and available to talk about fish parasites! From CEH Dorset and Oxford: Dr Susan Brown for her help and support in the first year o f my PhD. Professor Robert Possee for allowing me access to CEH Oxford and making me feel welcome in his lab. The fish group, Dr Anton Ibotson, Bill Beaumont, Luke Scott and Adrian Pinder for all their help and access to fishing equipment. Dr Kathleen Beyer with help on the field, access to data, discussions on fish biology and her help and support. All the staff at CEH Dorset and in particular Robert Haines for all his help with looking after my ponds! All the member o f the virology team and administrative staff at CEH Oxford for making me feel so welcome and making my time at Oxford such a great experience. In particular a huge thanks to Graziella Burney, Do Sturmey and Jessica Winder for their friendship and support. From Bournemouth University: Dr Duncan Golligher and Professor Ralph Clarke for help with statistics and hugely interesting conversations! Dr Robert Britton for his help. Dr Wei Jun Liang for welcoming me in his molecular lab and very interesting conversations. Dr Julien Cucherousset for his invaluable help and friendship. All the technical and administration staff for their help and support. In particular, Dr Iain Green, Damian Evans, Dr Martin Smith, Dr Rob Haslam, Rebecca Dolling, Louise Pearson, Marie Dunning and Laura Buckley. A big thank you goes to the postgraduate community and the Ecology Coffee group! From the Environment Agency: Dr Chris Williams for his help and support. Gareth Davies for his help with getting hold of very valuable fish. Thank you to the Calverton fish farm and in particular Nick Eyre for providing me with fish. I would also like to thank many friends for their support, friendship and natural ability to just cheer me up and on! Thank you - Aria Johnson, Dr Alison Poole, Jill Ashton, Marina Taouxi, Monica Tyrimou, Katerina Karpasitis, Katja Sievers, Marina Nygwist, Kae Neustadt and the rest of the 10-K run group (Rebecca Bennett and Katie iv Hess) for their support and encouragement! A special thank you goes to Dean Bumard for his love, support, encouragement, humour and reading and commenting on my work! Last but in no way least, thank you to my parents Loukia and Nikiforos and the best sister and brother in the world - Tonia and Andreas - for their constant love and support! I am grateful to my PhD examiners, Dr Ed Peeler and Dr Joanne Cable for their helpful comments. I would also like to thank Deffa for my funding and Bournemouth University for hosting me. v Abstract Sphaerothecum destruens is a multi-host parasite which can infect and cause mortality in a number of fish species including Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Atlantic salmon S. salar and the sunbleak Leucaspius delineatus. It has been hypothesised that S. destruens has been introduced to the UK with its invasive hosts; L. delineatus and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva. As the effects of a novel parasite to naive populations could be detrimental, this thesis aimed to better elucidate the life cycle o f S. destruens, its prevalence in wild populations and the susceptibility of cyprinid species. S. destruens was able to infect multiple organs (kidney, liver, gill, gonad and intestine) with similar histopathology between L. delineatus, a cyprinid species, and the histopathology reported for salmonid species. Its spore and zoospore life stages displayed a wide temperature tolerance and zoosporulation occurred at temperatures between 4-30 °C. A survey of one UK location detected S. destruens in a wild L. delineatus population. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction was developed in order to quantify S. destruens’ infection levels. Reproductive L. delineatus were more susceptible to S. destruens and experienced higher S. destruens prevalence and infection levels. The presence of a second host, P. parva, had no influence on S. destruens’ prevalence and infection levels. However, presence of P. parva resulted in significantly lower somatic condition in parasitized female L. delineatus. Exposure to S. destruens through immersion in water containing S. destruens spores revealed that bream Abramis brama and carp Cyprinus carpio were susceptible to S. destruens. A. brama experienced high (53 %) mortalities when exposed to S. destruens whilst C. carpio experienced low (8 %) mortalities. The susceptibility of roach Rutilus rutilus and rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus could not be excluded and needs to be further investigated. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................vi Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... vii List o f Figures ............................................................................................................................. xii List o f Tables ............................................................................................................................xviii List o f Abbreviations .................................................................................................................xxi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Rosette-like-agent ......................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Sphaerothecum destruens: epidemiology, life cycle and pathology .................7 1.3 Classification history of Sphaerothecum destruens (Rhinosporideacae) .......12 1.4 Rhinosporideacae life cycles ....................................................................................13 1.5 Rhinosporideacae detection ......................................................................................20 1.6 Leucaspius delineatus and Pseudorasbora parva as Sphaerothecum destruens hosts ........................................................................................................................21 1.7 Aims and Objectives .................................................................................................24 1.8 Overview of chapters ................................................................................................24 1.8.1 Part A: Sphaerothecum destruens life cycle - intracellular and free- living stages and prevalence in the wild ....................................................................... 25 Chapter 2: First occurrence and associated pathology o
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