PI: Wenxiang Li (liwx@ihb.ac.cn)

Members: Guitang Wang (Professor), Shangong Wu (Professor), Ming Li (Associate Professor), Hong Zou (Senior Experimentalist), Weishan Zhao (Project Associate Researcher)

Introduction: The group focuses on basic and applied research on fish diseases, with research areas covering parasitology, microbiology, and fish disease control. Research in parasitology includes parasite taxonomy, phylogeny and coevolution, population and community ecology, and the epidemiology of parasitic diseases. Research in microbiology includes the molecular ecology of probiotics and pathogenic microbiology, the relationship between microbial communities and disease occurrence, and the application of microecological preparations. Aquatic animal disease control mainly includes the molecular mechanisms of antiparasitic drug resistance, the discovery of drug targets, and applied basic research on chemotherapeutic and ecological control of aquatic animal diseases.

Current Research Interests:

Ecology of monogeneans and early warning of fish diseases based on fish behavior;

Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in monogeneans, discovery of drug targets, and screening of antiparasitic drugs;

Interactions between parasitic protozoa and hosts and their pathogenic mechanisms, and adaptive evolution of parasitic protozoa;

Vaccine development for important parasitic ciliate diseases of fish, ecological control technologies, discovery of precise targets, and drug development;

Identification of alien parasites of invasive fish and research on invasion risks;

Mechanisms by which probiotics repair intestinal injury, and development of vaccines against important fish diseases based on indigenous intestinal probiotics.

Recent Publications:

Xiaoling Ni, Houda Cheng, Ran Chen, Shangong Wu, Weishan Zhao, Hong Zou, Ming Li, Guitang Wang, Wenxiang Li. Anthelmintic efficacy of Cymbopogon martini essential oil and its active components against Dactylogyrus vastator (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae). Aquaculture, 2027, 627: 744638.

Yangyang Pan, Ke Huang, Weitian Zhou, Bin Liu, Weishan Zhao, Xujie Zhang, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Guitang Wang, Ming Li. Immune responses and cross-protection elicited by parasitic versus free-living ciliate vaccines in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio). Fish and Shellfish Immunology, 2026, 176: 111497.

Ke Huang, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Guitang Wang, Ming Li. Pathological basis and immunometabolic regulation of resistance to Ichthyophthirius multifiliis infection in Percocypris pingi. Aquaculture, 2026, 621: 743975.

Tian Qin, Yang-Yang Pan, Ke Huang, Wei-Shan Zhao, Ying-Zi Pan Hong Zou, Wen-Xiang Li, Shan-Gong Wu, Gui-Tang Wang, Ming Li. Assessment of the efficacy of Corbicula fluminea in controlling Ichthyophthirius multifiliis infections. Aquaculture, 2025, 608: 742758.

Shun Zhou, Xiao Jin, Ming Duan, Hong Zou, Ming Li, David J. Marcogliese, Guitang Wanga, Wenxiang Li. Potential effects of host competence and schooling behavior on parasite transmission in a host-pathogen system: a test of the dilution effect. International Journal for Parasitology, 2024, 54: 697–703.

Weishan Zhao, Jie Xiong, Ming Li, Xialian Bu, Chuanqi Jiang, Guangying Wang, Jing Zhang, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Wei Miao, Kai Chen, Guitang Wang. Genome assembly of a symbiotic balantidia (Balantidium ctenopharyngodoni) in fish hindgut. Scientific Data, 2024, 11: 323.

Shangong Wu, Meijing Pan, Ziye Zan, Ivan Jakovlic, Weishan Zhao, Hong Zou, Einar Ringø, Guitang Wang. Regulation of lipid metabolism by gut microbiota in aquatic animals. Reviews in Aquaculture, 2024, 16: 34-46.

Weitian Zhou, Shiman Yang, Ke Huang, Weishan Zhao, Hong Zou, Wenxiang Li, Ming Li, Guitang Wang. Can Chilodonella uncinata induce cross-protection in koi carp (Cyprinus carpio) against Ichthyophthirius multifiliis? Evidence from immune response and challenge experiments. Aquaculture, 2024, 579: 740198.

Ivan Jakovlic, Hong Zou, Tong Ye, Hong Zhang, Xiang Liu, Chuanyu Xiang, Guitang Wang, Dong Zhang. Mitogenomic evolutionary rates in bilateria are influenced by parasitic lifestyle and locomotory capacity. Nature Communications, 2023, 14: 6307.

Xialian Bu, Weishan Zhao, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Shangong Wu, Ming Li, Guitang Wang. Mitochondrial metabolism of the facultative parasite Chilodonella uncinata (Alveolata, Ciliophora). Parasites & Vectors, 2023, 16: 92.

Xialian Bu, Weishan Zhao, Zhongyang Li, Hongwei Ma, Yushun Chen, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Ming Li, Guitang Wang. The energy metabolism of Balantidium polyvacuolum inhabiting the hindgut of Xenocypris davidi. BMC Genomics, 2023, 24: 624.

Guangran Hu, Ke Huang, Weitian Zhou, Runqiu Wang, Weishan Zhao, Hong Zou, Wenxiang Li, Shangong Wu, Ming Li, Guitang Wang. Comparison of droplet digital PCR and real-time quantitative PCR for quantitative detection of the parasitic ciliate Ichthyophthirius multifiliis in the water environment. Journal of Fish Diseases, 2023, 46(4): 357-367.

Ming Li, Giana Bastos Gomes, Weishan Zhao, Guangran Hu, Ke Huang, Tomoyoshi Yoshinaga, Theodore G. Clark, Wenxiang Li, Hong Zou, Shangong Wu, Guitang Wang. Cultivation of fish ciliate parasites: Progress and prospects. Reviews in Aquaculture, 2023, 15: 142-162.

Xiao Jin, Hong Zou, Ming Li, Shangong Wu, Guitang Wang, David J. Marcogliese and Wenxiang Li. Population growth of Gyrodactylus kobayashii in goldfish (Carassius auratus) associated with host density. Parasitology, 2022, 149: 1057-1064.

Xiao Jin, Wenxiang Li, Yingyin Cheng, Ming Li, Shangong Wu, Hong Zou, Guitang Wang. Description of Gyrodactylus banmae n. sp. (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidae) parasitic on zebrafish, Danio rerio. Parasitology International, 2022, 87: 102531.

Xiaoping Zhang, Baodi Shang, Yingyin Cheng, Guitang Wang, Stojmir Stojanovski,Wenxiang Li. Effects of different regimes of low temperature on egg hatching of Dactylogyrus vastator (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae). Experimental Parasitology, 2022, 240: 108333.

Peipei Fu, Fan Xiong, Shangong Wu, Hong Zou, Ming Li, Guitang Wang, Wenxiang Li. Effects of Schyzocotyle acheilognathi (Yamaguti, 1934) infection on the intestinal microbiota, growth and immune reactions of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). PLoS ONE, 2022, 17(4): e0266766.

Hong Zou, Hongpeng Lei, Rong Chen, Fanglin Chen, Wenxiang Li, Ming Li, Dong Zhang, Ivan Jakovli, Guitang Wang. Evolutionary rates of mitochondrial sequences and gene orders in Spirurina (Nematoda) are episodic but synchronized. Water Biology and Security, 2022, 1: 100033.

Wenxiang Li, Baojuan Yang, Jiangwen Cheng, Hong Zou, Ming Li, Guitang Wang. Seasonal dynamics of Dactylogyrus species (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae) on wild and farmed goldfish (Carassius auratus): Implication for prevention of dactylogyriasis. Aquaculture Reports, 2022, 26: 101327.

Weishan Zhao, Ming Li, Guangran Hu, Xialian Bu, Weitian Zhou, Wenxiang Li, Shangong Wu, Hong Zou, Guitang Wang. An infection mechanism of Balantidium ctenopharyngodoni, based on its prevalence and in vitro cultivation. Aquaculture, 2022, 458: 737686.