| Summary: | The introduction of non-indigenous species and associated diseases can cause declines in
indigenous flora and fauna and threaten local biodiversity. The crayfish plague pathogen
(Aphanomyces astaci), carried and transmitted by latent infected North
American crayfish, can lead to high mortalities in indigenous European crayfish
populations. Although the parthenogenetic marbled crayfish (Procambarus fallax
(Hagen, 1870) forma virginalis) is common in the aquarium trade
and has established wild populations in Europe, its carrier status is still unknown. This
study investigated one captive and three established wild-living marbled crayfish
populations for an infection with the crayfish plague pathogen applying real-time PCR. We
demonstrate that captive, as well as two wild marbled crayfish populations were infected
by A. astaci. Although infection status in laboratory kept specimens
reached high levels, marbled crayfish showed no obviously plague-related mortality.
Furthermore, sequence analysis revealed that captive crayfish carried the A.
astaci genotype Pc, which has earlier been isolated from the North American red
swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). The results indicate that due to
its positive carrier status marbled crayfish poses a greater threat to local biodiversity
in Europe than considered until now.
|
|---|
