• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2004

The definitive identification of ciliate species by morphological characteristics relies on time-consuming and laborious staining techniques. Therefore, in this study, we discriminated 3 scuticociliatosis causing species - Pseudocohnilembus persalinus, Uronema marinum and Philasterides dicentrarchi - in cultured olive flounder by multiplex PCR. The multiplex PCR based on the species-specific amplification of small subunit ribosomal RNA (SS rRNA) gene sequence enabled us to distinguish the 3 scuticociliate species in a simple and rapid manner, even in the sample containing the three species simultaneously. These data suggest that the multiplex PCR strategy would make it possible to avoid the cumbersome and time-consuming procedures of morphological analysis for the definitive identification of scuticociliates.