Ixodes ricinus and other representatives of the order Ixodida are vectors of typical pathogens: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Anaplasma phagocytophilium, Babesia spp., a tick-borne encephalitis virus, and other microorganisms which are important from a medical and veterinary point of view. The presented study focuses on the verification of nonspecific bacterial flora of I. ricinus. We analyzed ticks collected in a forest region in Silesia, an industrial district in Poland. Methods of classical microbiology and biochemical assays (API 20 NE test, API Staph test and MICRONAUT System) were used for isolation and identification of microorganisms living on the body surface of I. ricinus and inside ticks. The results show the presence of various bacteria on the surface and inside ticks’ bodies. During the study, we isolated Acinetobacter lwoffi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Aeromonas hydrophila, Achromobacter denitrificans, Alcaligenes faecalis, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans, Micrococcus spp., Kocuria varians, Staphylococcus lentus, Kocuria kristinae, Streptococcus pneumo- niae, Rhizobium radiobacter, Staphylococcus xylosus. Majority of the isolated species are non-pathogenic environmental microorganisms, but some of the isolated bacterial strains could cause severe infections.
The aim of this work was to determine the activity of proteases and protease inhibitors sampled from the body surface of tau-fluvalinate-sensitive and resistant V. destructor. Proteins were isolated from the tau-fluvalinate-sensitive and resistant mites, while mites untreated with tau-fluvalinate constituted the control. Subsequently, the following methodology was applied: protein concentration assay by the Lowry method — as modified by Schacterle and Pollack; assay of proteolytic activity in relation to various substrates (gelatine, haemoglobin, ovoalbumin, albumin, cytochrome C, casein) by the modified Anson method; identification of proteolytic activity in relation to diagnostic inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes (pepstatin A, PMSF, iodoacetamide, o-phenantrolin), using the Lee and Lin method; identification of acidic, neutral and basic protease activities by means of the modified Anson method; electrophoretic analysis of proteins in a polyacrylamide gel for protease detection with the Laemmli method and for protease inhibitor detection with the Felicioli method. The highest value of protein concentration was found in the tau-fluvalinate-sensitive V. destructor, while the highest activity levels of acidic, neutral and alkaline proteases were observed in the tau-fluvalinate-resistant mites. Aspartic, serine, thiolic and metallic proteases were found in the drug-resistant and drug-sensitive Varroa mites. The control samples were found to contain aspartic and serine proteases. In an acidic and alkaline environment, the results revealed a complete loss of inhibitor activities in the in vitro analyses and electrophoresis. Serine protease inhibitor activities (at pH 7.0) were high, especially in the group of tau-fluvalinate-resistant mites.
Parasites of the genus Ellobiopsis and epibiontic ciliates of the genus Paracineta were found on the body surface of some copepod taxa collected in the Kongsfjorden area (west Spitsbergen, Svalbard) during summer 2002. Paracineta sp. individuals were noted in Metridia longa and Paraeuchaeta norvegica (0.5% of the population infected in each species). This study provides the first record of the presence of Paracineta sp. in the latter species. Remarkably, epibionts were attached exclusively to females. Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis were invaded by Ellobiopsis spp., but the level of infection was generally low (0.06% and 0.09% of the population infected, respectively). Parasite distribution within both host populations was similar – 80% of infected specimens were at copepodid stage V. This study also provides the first record of C. glacialis serving as a host to Ellobiopsis.
The genus TrifurWilson, 1917 (Siphonostomatoida, Pennellidae) comprises relatively large and conspicuous parasitic copepods infecting the body surface and gills of several marine fishes. Variations in the gross morphology have been used to discriminate between the existing species of Trifur, however all previous descriptions of these species are brief, lacking many important characteristics, especially those of the head and trunk appendages, which usually were lost in the described specimens. In this paper, T. tortuosus is redescribed based on newly collected material from three species of fishes from Argentinean coasts. A detailed description of appendages morphology is given and the validity of T. merluccii Talice, 1936; T. puntaniger Thomé, 1963; T. physiculi Heegaard, 1962 and T. lotellae (Thomson, 1890) is herewith discussed.
Details of the body surface of the chancelloriid Allonnia from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota in southwestern China elucidate the nature of these enigmatic organisms. Rhombically arranged elements, about 30 x 60 ym, are interpreted as representing imbricating platelets, the distal ends of which projected as spinules from the body surface. Comparisons with other chancelloriids suggest that the flexible integument was continuous with the aragonitic sclerites that sit on the surface like cactus spines, and that both were formed by an epidermal epithelium secreting a continuous exo- and endocuticle. In the sclerites, the exocuticle was mineralized; the unmineralized endocuticle and cellular extensions from the epithelium filled the interior of the sclerites. In the flexible integument the epithelium was overlain by endocuticle and unmineralized exocuticle. This structure of soft integument and sclerites is at variance with proposals of poriferan or ascidian affinity of chancelloriids but in accord with a coeloscleritophoran model.
This paper presents the first records of the parasitic copepod Caligus furcisetifer Redkar, Rangnekar et Murti, 1949 beyond Indian waters, specifically, on the body surface and head of the critically endangered largetooth sawfish (commonly referred to as the freshwater sawfish in Australia), Pristis microdon Latham, 1794 (Elasmobranchii, Pristidae), in brackish tidal waters of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Leichhardt River in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Queensland. This represents a geographic range extension of ∼8000 km for this parasite. Further, it is only the second member of the genus Caligus to be found on an elasmobranch host in Western Australia and it is the first time this species has been reported from the Southern Hemisphere. Male biased dispersal of P. microdon may be the vector in which the parasite has dispersed from India across to northern Australia, or vice versa. A decline in populations of the critically endangered P. microdon (and possibly other pristid species) in these regions may lead to a concomitant decline in their parasite fauna.
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