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Cytological and molecular description of Hamiltosporidium tvaerminnensis gen. et sp. nov., a microsporidian parasite of Daphnia magna, and establishment of Hamiltosporidium magnivora comb. nov.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2010

KAREN LUISA HAAG*
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Zoological Institute, Vesalgasse 1, 4051 Basel, Switzerland Programa de Pós-Graduação em Genética e Biologia Molecular, UFRGS, C. Postal 15053, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, Brazil
J. I. RONNY LARSSON
Affiliation:
University of Lund, Department Cell and Organism Biology, Helgonav. 3, S-22362 Lund, Sweden
DOMINIK REFARDT
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Zoological Institute, Vesalgasse 1, 4051 Basel, Switzerland Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, ETH Zentrum CHN J11, Universitätsstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
DIETER EBERT
Affiliation:
University of Basel, Zoological Institute, Vesalgasse 1, 4051 Basel, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author: University of Basel, Zoological Institute, Vesalgasse 1, 4051 Basel, Switzerland. Tel: +41 (0) 61 267 03 61. Fax: +41 (0) 61 267 03 62. E-mail: karen.haag@unibas.ch

Summary

We describe the new microsporidium Hamiltosporidium tvaerminnensis gen. et sp. nov. with an emphasis on its ultrastructural characteristics and phylogenetic position as inferred from the sequence data of SSU rDNA, alpha- and beta-tubulin. This parasite was previously identified as Octosporea bayeri Jírovec, 1936 and has become a model system to study the ecology, epidemiology, evolution and genomics of microsporidia - host interactions. Here, we present evidence that shows its differences from O. bayeri. Hamiltosporidium tvaerminnensis exclusively infects the adipose tissue, the ovaries and the hypodermis of Daphnia magna and is found only in host populations located in coastal rock pool populations in Finland and Sweden. Merogonial stages of H. tvaerminnensis have isolated nuclei; merozoites are formed by binary fission or by the cleaving of a plasmodium with a small number of nuclei. A sporogonial plasmodium with isolated nuclei yields 8 sporoblasts. Elongated spores are generated by the most finger-like plasmodia. The mature spores are polymorphic in shape and size. Most spores are pyriform (4·9–5·6×2·2–2·3 μm) and have their polar filament arranged in 12–13 coils. A second, elongated spore type (6·8–12·0×1·6–2·1 μm) is rod-shaped with blunt ends and measures 6·8–12·0×1·6–2·1 μm. The envelope of the sporophorous vesicle is thin and fragile, formed at the beginning of the sporogony. Cytological and molecular comparisons with Flabelliforma magnivora, a parasite infecting the same tissues in the same host species, reveal that these two species are very closely related, yet distinct. Moreover, both cytological and molecular data indicate that these species are quite distant from F. montana, the type species of the genus Flabelliforma. We therefore propose that F. magnivora also be placed in Hamiltosporidium gen. nov.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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