Biodiversity of Myxozoa based on extensive screening of fish and environmental samples

Abstract

Myxozoans represent a group of morphologically simplified endoparasites infecting mainly fish, annelid and bryozoan hosts including more than 2,600 nominal species. However, the diversity seems to be unexplored and undervalued. Host searching and invasive dissection is a commonly used method for the identification of myxozoan species diversity. Metabarcoding and amplicon analyses of environmental DNA from sediment, water and soil is developing approach for biodiversity assessment and have been performed in many biological areas to identify the diversity of organisms, communities and populations. Using classical morphological and molecular approaches, we explored the myxozoan diversity in selected areas and host groups. In addition, we propose a new methodological approach for the studying of myxozoan diversity based on environmental DNA from sediment and amplicon sequencing. Illumina Mi-Seq with metabarcoding and newly designed primer sets is suitable for analyzing myxozoan communities without the need to find and capture intermediate or final hosts.