Desvignes Thomas, Lauridsen Henrik, Valdivieso Alejandro, Fontenele Rafaela S, Kraberger Simona, Murray Katrina N, Le François Nathalie R, Detrich H William, Kent Michael L, Varsani Arvind, Postlethwait John H
Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA.
Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University; Palle Juul-Jensens Boulevard 99, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark.
iScience. 2022 Jun 15;25(7):104588. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104588. eCollection 2022 Jul 15.
Climate changes can promote disease outbreaks, but their nature and potential impacts in remote areas have received little attention. In a hot spot of biodiversity on the West Antarctic Peninsula, which faces among the fastest changing climates on Earth, we captured specimens of two notothenioid fish species affected by large skin tumors at an incidence never before observed in the Southern Ocean. Molecular and histopathological analyses revealed that X-cell parasitic alveolates, members of a genus we call , are the etiological agent of these tumors. Parasite-specific molecular probes showed that xenomas remained within the skin but largely outgrew host cells in the dermis. We further observed that tumors induced neovascularization in underlying tissue and detrimentally affected host growth and condition. Although many knowledge gaps persist about X-cell disease, including its mode of transmission and life cycle, these findings reveal potentially active biotic threats to vulnerable Antarctic ecosystems.
气候变化会促使疾病爆发，但其本质以及在偏远地区的潜在影响却很少受到关注。在南极半岛西部这个生物多样性热点地区，它面临着地球上变化最快的气候之一，我们采集到了两种南极鱼科鱼类的样本，它们身上出现了大面积的皮肤肿瘤，其发生率在南大洋前所未见。分子和组织病理学分析表明，X细胞寄生性肺泡虫（我们称之为 属的成员）是这些肿瘤的病原体。针对寄生虫的分子探针显示，瘤体仍位于皮肤内，但在很大程度上生长超过了真皮中的宿主细胞。我们还进一步观察到，肿瘤会诱导下层组织的新血管形成，并对宿主的生长和健康状况产生不利影响。尽管关于X细胞疾病仍存在许多知识空白，包括其传播方式和生命周期，但这些发现揭示了对脆弱的南极生态系统潜在的活跃生物威胁。
