{"doi":"10.1111/jeu.12989","title":"Fine structure and molecular characterization of two new parabasalid species that naturally colonize laboratory mice, <i>Tritrichomonas musculus</i> and <i>Tritrichomonas casperi</i>","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Tritrichomonas muris</jats:italic> is a common flagellated protist isolated from the cecum of wild rodents. This commensal protist has been shown previously to alter immune phenotypes in laboratory mice. Other trichomonads, referred to as <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas musculis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas rainier</jats:italic>, also naturally colonize laboratory mice and cause immune alterations. This report formally describes two new trichomonads, <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas musculus</jats:italic> n. sp., and <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas casperi</jats:italic> n. sp., at the ultrastructural and molecular level. These two protists were isolated from laboratory mice and were differentiated by their size and the structure of their undulating membrane and posterior flagellum. Analysis at the <jats:italic>18S rRNA</jats:italic> and trans‐<jats:italic>ITS</jats:italic> genetic loci supported their designation as distinct species, related to <jats:italic>T. muris</jats:italic>. To assess the true extent of parabasalid diversity infecting laboratory mice, 135 mice bred at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were screened using pan‐parabasalid primers that amplify the trans‐<jats:italic>ITS</jats:italic> region. Forty‐four percent of mice were positive for parabasalids, encompassing a total of eight distinct sequence types. <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas casperi</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Trichomitus‐</jats:italic>like protists were dominant. <jats:italic>T. musculus</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>T. rainier</jats:italic> were also detected, but <jats:italic>T. muris</jats:italic> was not. Our work establishes a previously underappreciated diversity of commensal trichomonad flagellates that naturally colonize the enteric cavity of laboratory mice.</jats:p>","journal":"Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology","year":2023,"id":671475,"datarank":0.5023403045474727,"base_score":2.833213344056216,"endowment":2.833213344056216,"self_citation_contribution":0.42498200160843247,"citation_network_contribution":0.07735830293904021,"self_endowment_contribution":0.42498200160843247,"citer_contribution":0.07735830293904021,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":16,"citer_count":7,"citers_with_citation_signal":3,"citers_with_endowment":3,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1754236,"name":"Eliza V. C. Alves‐Ferreira","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":662283,"name":"Cindi L. Schwartz","orcid":"0000-0002-0490-6040","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1174294,"name":"Andrea Kennard","orcid":"0000-0001-9419-3680","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":465590,"name":"Jacqueline M. Leung","orcid":"0000-0001-8040-7422","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1174295,"name":"Christina Shehata","orcid":"0000-0002-3582-4806","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":289407,"name":"Michael E. 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This report formally describes two new trichomonads, <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas musculus</jats:italic> n. sp., and <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas casperi</jats:italic> n. sp., at the ultrastructural and molecular level. These two protists were isolated from laboratory mice and were differentiated by their size and the structure of their undulating membrane and posterior flagellum. Analysis at the <jats:italic>18S rRNA</jats:italic> and trans‐<jats:italic>ITS</jats:italic> genetic loci supported their designation as distinct species, related to <jats:italic>T. muris</jats:italic>. To assess the true extent of parabasalid diversity infecting laboratory mice, 135 mice bred at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were screened using pan‐parabasalid primers that amplify the trans‐<jats:italic>ITS</jats:italic> region. Forty‐four percent of mice were positive for parabasalids, encompassing a total of eight distinct sequence types. <jats:italic>Tritrichomonas casperi</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Trichomitus‐</jats:italic>like protists were dominant. <jats:italic>T. musculus</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>T. rainier</jats:italic> were also detected, but <jats:italic>T. muris</jats:italic> was not. 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