Summary
The new genus Inodosporus was erected to accept I. spraguei, a new species having eight sporoblasts per pansporoblast with each subsequent spore possessing three or four basal spore-tails and one branched apical one. It is primarily by the apical tail that the species is separated from the only other recognized species, I. octospora (Henneguy, 1892) comb. n., formerly Thelohania octospora.
Spore-tails of I. spraguei are membranous channels which originate within differentiating pansporoblasts during genesis of sporonts into sporoblasts. During the switch from vegetative to spore-forming development, cytoplasmic constituents of I. spraguei segregate into two distinctive domains for which we originate the terms “pansporoblast-determinate area” (PDA) and “sporont-determinate area” (SDA). Membrane channels, which form spore-tails, develop within the PDA.
The following observations indicate that the tails of I. spraguei are continuous with the outer pansporoblast envelope: lanthanum marker readily penetrates pansporoblasts and localizes in channels, in spore-tail attachment points, and between extra-sporoblast membrane and sporoblasts; a positive reaction for adenosine triphosphatase product accumulates within spore-tails at their sites of attachment to sporoblasts; and spore-tails occasionally remain attached to pansporoblast envelopes after mechanical disruption.
An extensive PAS-positive glycocalyx-like material is found within newly developing pansporoblasts. This observation, plus the presence of an apparent adenosine triphosphatase system on pansporoblast membranes, indicates that the pansporoblast may serve as a molecular or ion transport system during initial phases of sporont differentiation.
Inodosporus spraguei infects each muscle fiber completely until filaments are destroyed, and infections are spread throughout the animal until most fibers are infected. Curiously, uninfected muscle cells seldom show serious pathological changes caused by massive infections of neighboring cells.
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This study was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service, under PL 88-309, Project No. 2-174-R and NOAA, Office of Sea Grant, under Grant No. 04-3-158-53. Additional support was from National Science Foundation Research Grant GA-36198. The U.S. Government is authorized to produce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation that may appear hereon.
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Overstreet, R.M., Weidner, E. Differentiation of microsporidian spore-tails in Inodosporus spraguei Gen. et Sp. N.. Z. F. Parasitenkunde 44, 169–186 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328760
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00328760