Abstract
By virtue of the ecological niches they occupy, protozoa have ample opportunity to become infected with virus-like particles (VLPs). One of the better described and documented instances of such an infection is in Entamoeba histolytica, an endosymbiont of the human gut. Diamond and co-workers (2) have described several different VLPs in the nucleus and cytoplasm of Entamoeba, but the source of infection is not clear. These VLPs may have been acquired by the amebas during their residence in the intestinal lumen, an ideal habitat for numerous species of bacteria and viruses. Not resolved in this study is the relationship between the VLPs and the ability of Entamoeba to cause amebic dysentery. Does the presence of VLPs in the ameba serve as a means of enhancing virulence of the amebas? The VLPs apparently cause lysis of amebas under appropriate circumstances (2).
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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
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Schuster, F.L., Dunnebacke, T.H. (1986). Virus-Like Particles in a Soil Ameboflagellate, Naegleria Gruberi . In: Wickner, R.B., et al. Extrachromosomal Elements in Lower Eukaryotes. Basic Life Sciences, vol 40. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5251-8_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5251-8_27
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