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The opisthorchiasis caused by Opisthorchis felineus, the Siberian liver fluke remains a serious public health problem in Russia and Eastern Europe. Proteomic identification of the proteins in the excretory-secretory products (ESPs) released by O. felineus is an important key for the investigation of host-parasite interactions and understanding the mechanisms involved in parasite survival within the host. In the ESP of O. felineus we have identified 37 proteins using high-resolution proteomics approach (LTQ-FT-ICR mass spectrometer). The O. felineus secretes either excretes a complex mixture of proteins including: glycolytic enzymes (enolase, aldolase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase and other); detoxification proteins (4 isoform of glutathione S-transferases, Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, thioredoxin peroxidase, thioredoxin); cytoskeletal proteins(beta tubulin and paramyosin); a number of proteases (cathepsin F, Bl, leucin aminopeptidase 2); protease inhibitors (putative cysl protein, leukocyte elastase inhibitor), binding proteins (ferritin, myoglobin, FABP) and other. In the O. felineus ESP we also identified Of-HDM protein belonging to a novel family "helminth defence molecules" (HDMs). The O. felineus proteins identified in this study provide necessary information for the further investigation of molecular mechanisms of opisthorchiasis pathogenesis and some of them would be of interest as potential antigens for vaccine and immunodiagnostics development and as potential new anthelmintic drug targets.

The full nucleotide sequences of DNA ribosome cluster of Leucochloridium paradoxum Carus, 1835 and L. perturbatum Pojmanska, 1967 were obtained. rDNA was extracted from 40 isolates of Leucochloridium sp. and analyzed using specific primers. The intraspecific genetically identity of morphologically detected L. paradoxum and L. perturbatum sporocysts was proven. A noticeable interspecific divergence between L. paradoxum and L. perturbatum was indicated. Using rDNA genotyping a case of double infection of snail Succinea sp. with L. paradoxum and L. perturbatum sporocysts was detected.

Stable isotope ratios of carbon (¹³C/¹²C, δ¹³C) and nitrogen (¹⁵N/¹⁴N, δ¹⁵N) in snail-host tissue (the foot and hepatopancreas) and trematode parasites on two stages of their life cycle were analyzed. Trophic structure in co-occurring trematode larvae was examined in the following species: five species ofcercariae (Echinoparyphium recurvatum, Hypodereum conoideum, Plagiorchis mutationis, Diplostomum chromatophorum and D. volvens) and two species of metacercariae (Cotylurus cornutus and Echinoparyphium recurvatum) within two closely related snail hosts Lymnaea stagnalis and L. tumida using stable isotope analyses. Snail and parasite sampling was conducted in a riverine portion of the Kargat River of the Lake Chany basin, in the south of Western Siberia (54°37'76"N, 78°13'07" E), in August 2009. Four out of five studied cercariae species were depleted in ¹⁵N as well as in ¹³C relatively to snail hosts tissues (foot and hepatopancreas), supporting our previously published data for Plagiorchis mutationis and Echinoparyphium recurvatum cercariae. Such fractionation of cercariae is untypical of the commonly observed relationship between consumers and their food. D. chromatophorum cercariae had demonstrated an insufficient enrichment in δ¹⁵N volume in relation to the hepatopancreas. Both two species of metacercariae (C. cornutus and E. recurvatum) showed a significant enrichment in δ¹⁵N volume relatively to the host tissue consumed (fractionation values ranging from 1.5 to 4‰ depending on the species). The differences in δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C volume between cercariae and metacercariae observed in this study illustrate the complexity of the host—parasite trophic relationships. Such isotopic differences between cercariae and metacercariae can probably be explained by selective consumption of specific amino acids or lipids or by changes in metabolism associated with the life cycle of the parasite. The present study represents the first comparative analysis of trophic relationships between the host and the endoparasite at different life cycle stages. It demonstrates the potency of the stable isotope analyses for understanding trophic relationships in multispecies parasite communities.

Morphogenesis of the true ascocercus (euascocercus or euascocysticercoid) was studied in Schistotaenia srivastavai, a relatively rare parasite of the Red-necked Grebe Podiceps griseigena, and of intermediate hosts, damselfy and dragonfly larvae, in the Okhotsk-Kolyma region. Stages of postembryonic development were reconstructed by the material from spontaneously infected dragonflies' larvae, which corresponded to the published data on the development of metacestodes from the genus Tatria s. l. studied by Mrazek (1927) and Rees (1973). The euascocercus is the most widespread morphological modification of ascocysticercoids among Schistotaeniidae. According to Gulyaev (1989) and our data, the species of the family (the genus Mircia) have also a polycephalic modification of the ascocercus, or the multicercus. It represents a maternal individual that is filled with numerous small filial cysticercoids during the postembryonic development. These cysticercoids are formed of individual buds in the outer wall; later on, they are gemmated into the primary cavity of the maternal individual. Consequently, each daughter individual possesses its own single-layer exocyst, homological to the inner layer of the two-layered exocyst of the other ascocerci. Supposedly, exocyst's outer layer of monocephalic ascocerci is homologous to the outer wall of multicercus' maternal individual. Finally, diagnostic features of the third modification of ascocerci, namely megalocercus, described in the uniquely large metacestode Dioecocestus asper, corresponds to the characteristic of the metacestode Schistotaenia tenuicirrus, studied by Boertje (1975). S. tenuicirrus differs from D. asper in the spiral configuration formed on the entire surface of the endocyst (in D. asper, only on its dorsal side), and in a low number of proglottids in the larval strobile (D. asper possesses a multisegmental strobile). The reason, why so large protective envelopes (exo- and endocysts) develop in S. tenuicirrus with relatively small size of prospective body, remains unclear. Thus, life cycles of Schistotaeniidae represent all three modifications of the ascocerci: the true ascocercus (Shistotaenia, Tatria, Ryjikovilepis, Joyeuxilepis), the multicercus (genus Mircia), and the megalocercus (S. tenuicirrus).

The infestation dynamic of the sprat (Sprattus sprattus balticus), the Baltic herring (Cliipea harengus membras), and the Baltic cod (Gadiis morhiia callaris) with nematodes Contracaecum osculatum l (Anisakidae) from Russian waters of the South Baltic were studied in 2000—2012. Peculiarities of larval growth in different hosts were analyzed. A total of 6233 fish specimens were investigated, including 1420, 3867, and 946 specimens of sprat, herring, and cod, respectively. The prevalence and mean intensity indices of sprat, herring, and cod constituted 1.27 ± 0.3% and 1.0, 1.4 ± 0.19% and 1.13 ± 0.38, and 11.63 ± 1.04% and 5.62 ± 8.00, respectively. The increasing of infection indices was observed in recent years. It was associated with the increase in the number of grey seals, definitive hosts of C. osculatum in the Baltic Sea. The growth of helminthes larvae in sprats, Baltic herrings, and cods was revealed. The important role of the sprat in the cod infestation with C. osculatum and in the transmission of this parasite was demonstrated for the first time.

A total of 12 fish species were studied for the invasion of Posthodiplostomum cuticola (Nordmann, 1832) metacercariae in the Chany Lake estuaries, river and lake systems during different periods of water level. All infected individuals were represented by juveniles of the family Cyprinidae, except for adults of the dace Leuciscus leuciscus (L.). Under an average water level (2010) the highest rate of fish invasion was revealed in the estuary zone, where the prevalence of infection (PI) constituted 37.5%, 13.4%, and 5.9% for the gudgeon Gobio gobio, the roach Rutilus rutilus (L.), and the dace L. leuciscus (L.), respectively. An infested carp Cyprinus carpio L. (Heckel) (PI — 13.5%) was recorded in the lower Kargat River, and the goldfish Carassius auratus (L.) (PI — 3.2%), in the lake system. Mean intensity of infection (MI) constituted 1.3, 1.4, 2.5, 2.6, and 1.0 in gudgeon, roach, dace, carp, and bream (Abramis brama L.), respectively. During dry season (2011) with high water salinity only two fish species were infected with P. cuticola metacercariae, the goldfish (PI — 7.9%) and the roach (PI — 1.5%). No correlation between PI and fish density was revealed. It is assumed that the high degree of water salinity is a limiting factor regulating the efficiency of cercariae transition from the first intermediate host (Planorbis planorbis (L.)) to the second one (Pisces, Cyprinidae).

Results of special parasitological dissections of roach samples from catches with the same fishing gear and at the same station (Monakhovo Cove, Chivyrkui Bay of the Lake Baikal) and at the same time in different years (1998—2002) are given. Stability of age-related dynamics of roach infection rate with Ligiila intestinalisis in different years with the maximum of prevalence and mean abundance in fish of 3+ age, and the following sharp decrease in these rates in elder age groups, was revealed. Basing on prevalence decreasing of a single roach generation, the rate of fish mortality during its growth from age group 3+ to 4+ was estimated as 15.9—20.7%.

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