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Glochidial infection by the endangered Margaritifera margaritifera (Mollusca) increased survival of salmonid host (Pisces) during experimental Flavobacterium disease outbreak
- Source :
- Parasitology Research
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Co-infections are common in host-parasite interactions, but studies about their impact on the virulence of parasites/diseases are still scarce. The present study compared mortality induced by a fatal bacterial pathogen, Flavobacterium columnare between brown trout infected with glochidia from the endangered freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera, and uninfected control fish during the parasitic period and after the parasitic period (i.e. glochidia detached) in a laboratory experiment. We hypothesised that glochidial infection would increase host susceptibility to and/or pathogenicity of the bacterial infection. We found that the highly virulent strain of F. columnare caused an intense disease outbreak, with mortality reaching 100% within 29 h. Opposite to the study hypothesis, both fresh ongoing and past infection (14 months post-infection) with glochidia prolonged the fish host’s survival statistically significantly by 1 h compared to the control fish (two-way ANOVA: fresh-infection, F1, 82 = 7.144, p = 0.009 and post-infection, F1, 51 = 4.227, p = 0.044). Furthermore, fish survival time increased with glochidia abundance (MLR: post-infection, t = 2.103, p = 0.045). The mechanism could be connected to an enhanced non-specific immunity or changed gill structure of the fish, as F. columnare enters the fish body mainly via the gills, which is also the glochidia’s attachment site. The results increase current knowledge about the interactions between freshwater mussels and their (commercially important) fish hosts and fish pathogens and also emphasise the importance of (unknown) ecosystem services (e.g., protection against pathogens) potentially associated with imperilled freshwater mussels.
- Subjects :
- Gill
järvitaimen
unionida
Brown trout
Resistance
Zoology
Immunology and Host-Parasite Interactions - Original Paper
parasitismi
Flavobacterium
Disease Outbreaks
resistance
toukat
Fish Diseases
brown trout
co-infection
Animals
Mollusca
Margaritifera
Ecosystem
General Veterinary
biology
Virulence
Host (biology)
Pathogen
virulenssi
Outbreak
General Medicine
kalataudit
biology.organism_classification
jokihelmisimpukka
resistenssi
Co-infection
Bivalvia
virulence
taudinaiheuttajat
Infectious Diseases
Freshwater pearl mussel
Insect Science
Flavobacterium columnare
Parasitology
Salmonidae
pathogen
Unionida
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14321955 and 09320113
- Volume :
- 120
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Parasitology Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b4988bbcf15f4650c33823ecff7ebf87