Expanded geographical distribution of Myxobolus cerebralis: first detections from Alaska

The parasite responsible for salmonid whirling disease, Myxobolus cerebralis, was introduced to the USA in 1958. It has since spread across the country causing severe declines in wild trout populations, but has never been documented from Alaska. However, while assessing the risk of introduction of M. cerebralis into the state, we detected the parasite using a species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Testing of 180 hatchery rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), by pepsin trypsin digest (PTD) and quantitative PCR (QPCR) revealed 14 positive samples. Infection was confirmed by sequencing the parasite 18S rRNA gene and by a nested PCR assay based on the same gene. Sequence comparison of M. cerebralis from several locations demonstrated the Alaska isolates were genetically distinct and therefore not false-positives arising from contamination during processing. We were unable to visually identify myxospores, indicating that either infection was light or mature spores had not formed. A reference set of fish samples spiked with known numbers of myxospores verified the QPCR and PTD results. This paper presents DNA sequence data from the Alaska M. cerebralis isolates, provides a brief history of the fish and facility of origin, and discusses implications of different testing methods on asymptomatic fish populations.