A parasite outbreak in notothenioid fish in an Antarctic fjord Climate changes can promote disease outbreaks, but their nature and potential impacts in remote areas have received little attention. In a hot spot of…

Here is the article from 2022 where we described that new genus of #fish #parasites, Notoxcellia, from #notothenioid fishes from the Antarctic Peninsula.🧪🐟🇦🇶🌎
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Scaly Notothen Trematomus loennbergii a new host, and the Ross Sea, Antarctica, a new locality for dermal X‑cell parasites Notoxcellia spp. - Polar Biology Pathogens affecting Antarctic fishes remain mostly unknown and are largely limited to the description of macroparasites such as leeches and endoparasitic worms. Fish, however, occupy a crucial role in...

Very little is known about pathologies in #Antarctic #fish.
Recently, during a toothfish survey in the Ross Sea, we found a new #notothenioid fish species infected by a unicellular #parasite of a genus we described few years ago from the Antarctic Peninsula. 🇦🇶🐟🧪🌎
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly for the bald notothen, which we compared to other #notothenioid genomes. Using conserved synteny, we generally find 1-to-1 correspondence between *most* chromosomes, both to basal, non-Antarctic species, and to highly-derived icefishes. However...
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This #Antarctic #notothenioid fish is one of the most extreme examples of cold specialization! It is the only cryopelagic species living on one of the coldest environments on the planet. It has the lowest recorded blood freezing point, as well as the lowest thermal upper limit known in fishes.
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7/ So, yes, the cooling of #Antarctica definitively influenced the evolution of hemoglobin genes and proteins in #notothenioid #fish. And in modern Antarctic #notothenioid, the large majority of hemoglobin comes from only one alpha gene and one beta gene, both from the LA cluster

3/ Since 1980, we know that Antarctic #notothenioid express only 1 major Hb isoform (85 to 100% of circulating Hb), which was proposed to result from life in stable conditions bc Hb multiplicity is thought to be adaptive and help cope with changing enviro and physio conditions.

2/ We screened 36 #notothenioid genomes for Hb genes and found that LA clusters remained pretty stable, while MN clusters changed a lot across species.
In #icefish, all Hb genes of the MN cluster are gone, but in the LA cluster only the 3rd exon of an alpha gene remains.

Ever wondered whether adapting to icy, oxygen-rich #Antarctic waters influenced #hemoglobin gene #evolution in #notothenioid fishes?
And how white-blooded #icefish lost their hemoglobin genes?
Our new MS is for you!
A quick 🧵on our finding in @MolBioEvol!
#Marinelife
tinyurl.com/5n7ym3jp

3/ Since 1980, we know that Antarctic #notothenioid express only 1 major Hb isoform (85 to 100% of circulating Hb), which was proposed to result from life in stable conditions bc Hb multiplicity is thought to be adaptive and help cope with changing enviro and physio conditions.

2/ We screened 36 #notothenioid genomes for Hb genes and found that LA clusters remained pretty stable, while MN clusters changed a lot across species.
In #icefish, all Hb genes of the MN cluster are gone, but in the LA cluster only the 3rd exon of an alpha gene remains.