Production of Ceratonova shasta Myxospores from Salmon Carcasses: Carcass Removal Is Not a Viable Management Option.

Severe infection by the endemic myxozoan parasite, Ceratonova (synonym, Ceratomyxa) shasta, has been associated with declines in and impaired recovery efforts of populations of fall-run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Klamath River, California. The parasite has a complex life cycle involving a polychaete worm host as well as a salmon host. Myxospore transmission of this parasite, from salmon to polychaete, is a life cycle step during which there is a potential for applied disease management. A 3-year data set on prevalence, intensity, and spore characteristics of C. shasta myxospores was obtained from adult Chinook Salmon carcasses surveyed in the main stem of the Klamath River and three of its tributaries, Bogus Creek and the Shasta and Trinity rivers. Annual prevalence of myxospore detection in salmon intestines ranged from 22% to 52%, and spore concentration values per intestinal scraping ranged from 3.94 × 10(2) to 1.47 × 10(7) spores. A prevalence of 7.3% of all carcasses examined produced >5.0 × 10(5) spores, and these carcasses with "high" spore counts accounted for 76-95% of the total spores in a given spawning season. Molecular analysis of visually negative carcasses showed that 45-87% of these samples had parasite DNA, indicating they contained either low spore numbers or presporogonic stages of the parasite. Myxospores were rarely found in carcasses of freshly spawned adults but were common in decomposed carcasses of both sexes. The date of collection or age (based indirectly on FL) did not influence detection. The longer prespawn residence time for spring-run Chinook Salmon compared with that for fall-run Chinook Salmon in the Trinity River was associated with higher spore loads. The dye exclusion method for assessing spore viability in fresh smears indicated an inverse relationship in spore integrity and initial spore concentration. A carcass-removal pilot project in Bogus Creek for 6 weeks in the fall of 2008 (907 carcasses removed) and 2009 (1,799 carcasses removed) failed to measurably influence the DNA quantity of C. shasta in targeted waters. Combined with the high numbers of carcasses that contributed myxospores, we therefore deemed that this labor-intensive approach is not a viable management option to reduce the infectivity of C. shasta in Chinook Salmon in the Klamath River. Received January 23, 2015; accepted September 28, 2015.

Four-jointed interacts with dachs, abelson and enabled and feeds back onto the Notch pathway to affect growth and segmentation in the Drosophila leg.

The molecular basis of segmentation and regional growth during morphogenesis of Drosophila legs is poorly understood. We show that four-jointed is not only required for these processes, but also can direct ectopic growth and joint initiation when its normal pattern of expression is disturbed. These effects are non-autonomous, consistent with our demonstration of both transmembrane and secreted forms of the protein in vivo. The similarities between four-jointed and Notch phenotypes led us to further investigate the relationships between these pathways. Surprisingly, we find that although four-jointed expression is regulated downstream of Notch activation, four-jointed can induce expression of the Notch ligands, Serrate and Delta, and may thereby participate in a feedback loop with the Notch signaling pathway. We also show that four-jointed interacts with abelson, enabled and dachs, which leads us to suggest that one target of four-jointed signaling is the actin cytoskeleton. Thus, four-jointed may bridge the gap between the signals that direct morphogenesis and those that carry it out.

mip causes hyperinnervation of a retinotopic map in Drosophila by excessive recruitment of R7 photoreceptor cells.

The two central photoreceptor neurons of the Drosophila eye, R7 and R8, form a retinotopic map in the optic lobe of the fly brain. We have developed a technique that allows us to visualize the projections of these neurons with high resolution. Using this technique, we have identified a new mutant, mip (more inner photoreceptors), in which this map shows a striking hyperinnervation. The extra terminals in the brain derive from an excessive recruitment of sevenless-independent R7 photoreceptor cells during eye development. The original R7, however, remains sevenless responsive. The behavior of this gene suggests that recruitment to the R7 pathway, and possibly to multiple programs in ommatidial assembly, is partially regulated by inhibition.