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Biology and life-cycle of the microsporidium Kneallhazia solenopsae Knell Allan Hazard 1977 gen. n., comb. n., from the fire ant Solenopsis invicta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2008

Y. Y. Sokolova  and
J. R. Fuxa
Y. Y. Sokolova*
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA Laboratory of Cytology of Unicellular Organisms, Institute of Cytology Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, Russia, 194064
J. R. Fuxa
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Entomology, Louisiana State University AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Tel: 001 225 578 1391. Fax: 001 225 578 1643. E-mail: jsokolova@lsu.edu
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Summary

Thelohania solenopsae is a unique microsporidium with a life-cycle finely tuned to parasitizing fire ant colonies. Unlike other microsporidia of social hymenopterans, T. solenopsae infects all castes and stages of the host. Four distinctive spore types are produced: diplokaryotic spores, which develop only in brood (Type 1 DK spores); octets of octospores within sporophorous vesicles, the most prominent spore type in adults but never occurring in brood; Nosema-like diplokaryotic spores (Type 2 DK spores) developing in adults; and megaspores, which occur occasionally in larvae 4, pupae, and adults of all castes but predominantly infect gonads of alates and germinate in inseminated ovaries of queens. Type 2 DK spores function in autoinfection of adipocytes. Proliferation of diplokaryotic meronts in some cells is followed by karyogamy of diplokarya counterparts and meiosis, thereby switching the diplokaryotic sequence to octospore or megaspore development. Megaspores transmit the pathogen transovarially. From the egg to larvae 4, infection is inapparent and can be detected only by PCR. Type 1 DK spore and megaspore sequences are abruptly triggered in larvae 4, the key stage in intra-colony food distribution via trophallaxis, and presumably the central player in horizontal transmission of spores. Molecular, morphological, ultrastructural and life-cycle data indicate that T. solenopsae must be assigned to a new genus. We propose a new combination, Kneallhazia solenopsae.

Keywords

microsporidiaThelohaniaThelohania solenopsaeSolenopsis invictalife-cyclehost-parasite relationshipsultrastructurephylogenysystematics
Type
Original Articles
Information
Parasitology , Volume 135 , Issue 8 , July 2008 , pp. 903 - 929
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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