Re-examining Ceratomyxa shasta in the Pacific Northwest

• Main Author: Stinson, Matthew E. T.
• Other Authors: Bartholomew, Jerri L., Blouin, Michael, Kent, Michael, Microbiology, Oregon State University. Graduate School
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Host-parasite relationships > Genetic aspects; Ceratomyxa shasta > Northwest; Pacific > Molecular genetics; Salmonidae > Parasites > Northwest; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/qn59q703p

Ceratomyxa shasta infects salmonids in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of North America, occasionally causing losses in wild and captive populations. Host-specific parasite genotypes (O, I, II, III) were previously characterized molecularly using markers in the ribosomal DNA and phenotypically by type host in the Klamath River, CA/OR. This thesis sough to re-examine the composition of the parasite population elsewhere in the PNW and to further evaluate the host specificity of each genotype. I surveyed salmonids native to the PNW primarily from the Fraser, the Columbia and the Sacramento River basins. I also conducted sentinel studies on the Willamette and Deschutes Rivers that exposed native and non-native salmonids to parasite populations above and below migration barriers. These studies expanded upon the known host range of each genotype: O was specific to rainbow/steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and coastal cutthroat trout (O. clarkii); I was specific with Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha); II was non-specific, being detected in six species, but predominating in coho (O. kitsuch), chum (O. keta), and pink (O. gorbuscha) salmon; and III was also non-specific infecting many native and non-native salmonids. Hosts infected with genotype III were considered “adequate” if myxospore development occurred, and included brook char (Salvelinus fontinalis), brown (Salmo trutta), rainbow, cutthroat, and steelhead trout; but Chinook, kokanee/sockeye (O. nerka) and Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar) were less suitable. The distribution, life history, and phylogenetic traits of each salmonid host are factors that potentially explain the host specificity and the spatial and temporal patterns of each genotype. Data collected in this thesis provide evidence that host-specific C. shasta coevolved with Pacific salmonids, adapting unique host-parasite relationships over time.