A fast and effective method for dissecting parasitic spores: myxozoans as an example.

Disassembling parasitic spores and acquiring the main subunits for analysis is a prerequisite for a deep understanding of the basic biology of parasites. Herein, we present a fast and efficient method to dissect myxospores in a few steps, which mainly involves sonication, and sucrose and Percoll density gradient ultracentrifugation. We tested our method on three myxozoan species and demonstrate that this method allows the dismembering of myxospores, and the isolation of intact and clean nematocysts and shell valves within 2 h at low cost. This new tool will facilitate subsequent analyses and enable a better understanding of the ecological and evolutionary significance of parasitic spores.