37 research outputs found
Differences between Brachiola (Nosema) algerae Isolates of Human and Insect Origin when Tested Using an In Vitro Spore Germination Assay anda Cultured Cell Infection Assay
SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CHIRONOMUS TEPPERI (DIPTERA: CHIRONOMIDAE) TO BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS SEROVAR ISRAELENSIS
Activities of Enzymes of Carbohydrate and Energy Metabolism of the Spores of the Microsporidian, Nosema grylli
Brachiola algerae Spore Membrane Systems, their Activity During Extrusion, and a New Structural Entity, the Multilayered Interlaced Network, Associated with the Polar Tube and the Sporoplasm
Role of the CryIVD polypeptide in the overall toxicity of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis
In Vitro Cultivation of an Insect Microsporidian Tubulinosema ratisbonensis in Mammalian Cells
Structural relatedness between mosquitocidal endotoxins of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis
Immunolocalization of an Alternative Respiratory Chain in Antonospora (Paranosema) locustae Spores: Mitosomes Retain Their Role in Microsporidial Energy Metabolism â–ż
Microsporidia are a group of fungus-related intracellular parasites with severely reduced metabolic machinery. They lack canonical mitochondria, a Krebs cycle, and a respiratory chain but possess genes encoding glycolysis enzymes, a glycerol phosphate shuttle, and ATP/ADP carriers to import host ATP. The recent finding of alternative oxidase genes in two clades suggests that microsporidial mitosomes may retain an alternative respiratory pathway. We expressed the fragments of mitochondrial chaperone Hsp70 (mitHsp70), mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (mitG3PDH), and alternative oxidase (AOX) from the microsporidium Antonospora (Paranosema) locustae in Escherichia coli. Immunoblotting with antibodies against recombinant polypeptides demonstrated specific accumulation of both metabolic enzymes in A. locustae spores. At the same time comparable amounts of mitochondrial Hsp70 were found in spores and in stages of intracellular development as well. Immunoelectron microscopy of ultrathin cryosections of spores confirmed mitosomal localization of the studied proteins. Small amounts of enzymes of an alternative respiratory chain in merogonial and early sporogonial stages, alongside their accumulation in mature spores, suggest conspicuous changes in components and functions of mitosomes during the life cycle of microsporidia and the important role of these organelles in parasite energy metabolism, at least at the final stages of sporogenesis