A novel monoclonal Perkinsus chesapeaki in vitro isolate from an Australian cockle, Anadara trapezia

•Perkinsus sp. isolates were propagated from Australian cockle gill tissues.•One Australian P. chesapeaki monoclonal isolate was deposited as ATCC PRA-425.•The Australian isolate is morphologically similar to the hapantotype P. chesapeaki.•Phylogenetic analyses grouped amplicon sequences with P. olseni and P. chesapeaki.•P. olseni and P. chesapeaki were detected in Australian cockles by PCR and FISH.

A monoclonal Perkinsus chesapeaki isolate was established from 1 of 10 infected Australian Anadara trapezia cockles. Morphological features were similar to those of described P. chesapeaki isolates, and also included a unique vermiform schizont cell-type. Perkinsus olseni-specific PCR primers amplified DNAs from all 10 cockles. Perkinsus chesapeaki-specific primers also amplified DNAs from 4/10 cockles, including DNA from the isolate source cockle. Three different sets of DNA sequences from the monoclonal isolate grouped with the homologous, previously deposited, P. chesapeaki sequences in phylogenetic analyses. In situ hybridization assays detected both P. chesapeaki and P. olseni cells in histological sections from the source cockle for monoclonal isolate ATCC PRA-425.

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