Oxford Nanopore Sequencing of Myxobolus rasmusseni myxospores

Myxozoans are best known for causing disease in economically important fish across the world. This includes the dreaded whirling disease, which is caused by Myxobolus cerebralis. Myxozoans are extremely understudied. As of today, no drugs or vaccines exist to counter myxozoan infections. Further, only eight myxozoans having their genome sequenced. In 2017, a new myxozoan species was identified in Alberta, Myxobolus rasmusseni, which is an emerging parasite of fathead minnows in Alberta. We sequenced, assembled, and annotated the genome of this recently-discovered parasite using the Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing platform. The resources generated in our study represent an invaluable resource for future studies to analyze how these myxozoan parasites interact with their hosts and to develop strategies to counter myxozoan infections.