Phylogeny and morphology of Glugea hertwigi from rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax found in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Infection of rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax with the microsporidian Glugea hertwigi was diagnosed for the first time in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The prevalence of infection was 24%, 45 infected out of 187 examined fish captured in February and March 2009. Both large and small xenomas of G. hertwigi observed within the submucosa of the gastrointestinal tract and along the mesentery of the host contained only mature spores. Advanced and degraded xenomas associated with host reaction were described using light and transmission electron microscopy. The first rDNA sequence of G. hertwigi prepared in the present study completed the set of sequences of Glugea spp. available for comparison. The high level of rDNA sequence identity between Glugea spp. suggests that these may be variants of a single species.