Characterization of ecto- and endoparasite communities of wild Mediterranean teleosts by a metabarcoding approach

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 9; p. e0221475
• Main Authors: Scheifler, Mathilde, Ruiz-Rodríguez, Magdalena, Sanchez-Brosseau, Sophie, Magnanou, Elodie, Suzuki, Marcelino T, West, Nyree, Duperron, Sébastien, Desdevises, Yves
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10.09.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Apicomplexa; Apicomplexa - genetics; Arthropoda; Arthropods; Arthropods - genetics; Ascomycota; Ascomycota - genetics; Biochemistry, biophysics & molecular biology; Biochimie, biophysique & biologie moléculaire; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biology and Life Sciences; Ciliophora - genetics; Cnidaria; Communities; Containers; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Dinoflagellates; DNA; DNA barcoding; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic - methods; Ecology, environment; Endoparasites; Environmental Sciences; Environmental sciences & ecology; Eukaryotes; Fish; Fishes - microbiology; Fishes - parasitology; Gills; Gills - microbiology; Gills - parasitology; Host-parasite interaction; Identification methods; Intestine; Intestines - microbiology; Intestines - parasitology; Life Sciences; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mediterranean Sea; Metabarcoding approach; Metagenome; Metagenomics - methods; Methods; Microbiology and Parasitology; Morphology; Mucus; Nematoda; Nematoda - genetics; Nematodes; Parasites; Parasitology; Platyhelminthes; Roundworms; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie; Sciences du vivant; Skin; Skin - microbiology; Skin - parasitology; Species; Species diversity; Symbionts; Symbiosis; Taxonomy; Teleost fish; Teleosts; Zoologie; Zoology; Mediterranean region; France; Flatworms; Intestinal parasites; Eukaryota; Gills; Parasitic intestinal diseases; Mucus; Gastrointestinal tract; Nematoda
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221475

Next-generation sequencing methods are increasingly used to identify eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular symbiont communities within hosts. In this study, we analyzed the non-specific reads obtained during a metabarcoding survey of the bacterial communities associated to three different tissues collected from 13 wild Mediterranean teleost fish species. In total, 30 eukaryotic genera were identified as putative parasites of teleosts, associated to skin mucus, gills mucus and intestine: 2 ascomycetes, 4 arthropods, 2 cnidarians, 7 nematodes, 10 platyhelminthes, 4 apicomplexans, 1 ciliate as well as one order in dinoflagellates (Syndiniales). These results highlighted that (1) the metabarcoding approach was able to uncover a large spectrum of symbiotic organisms associated to the fish species studied, (2) symbionts not yet identified in several teleost species were putatively present, (3) the parasitic diversity differed markedly across host species and (4) in most cases, the distribution of known parasitic genera within tissues is in accordance with the literature. The current work illustrates the large insights that can be gained by making maximum use of data from a metabarcoding approach.