Summary
A prerequisite for the production of gemmules is the presence of intact archaeocytes and trophocytes, which give rise to the thesocytes with which the gemmule is eventually filled. The coat enclosing the gemmule requires spongioblasts for its formation and incorporates amphidisk spicules, which develop in amphidiskoblasts. The cell parasite, the development of which is described here, infects mainly archaeocytes but also spongioblasts and amphidiskoblasts. Even a moderate infection results in significant malformation of the gemmule covering. In the thesocyte nucleus, the parasite can survive the resting phase of the gemmule. After the gemmule has hatched, the parasite, again in the virulent form, is present in the young, developing sponge. The parasite may be a microsporidian of the primitive type, close to the genusMetchnikovella, which typically occurs in gregarines.
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Abbreviations
- PhM :
-
phase-contrast microscopy
- TEM :
-
transmission electron microscopy
- SEM :
-
scanning electron microscopy
References
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Weissenfels, N. The influence of an eucaryotic intranuclear cell parasite on the production of gemmules inEphydatia fluviatilis (Porifera, Spongillidae). Zoomorphology 111, 207–216 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01633009
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01633009