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Ultrastructural Analysis Of The Aseptate Gregarine Pterospora, A Parasite of The Bamboo Worm Axiothella Mucosa.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

Stephen C. Landers
Stephen C. Landers*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Troy State University, Troy, AL36082.
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Extract

The gregarine Pterospora is a parasite found in the body cavities of bamboo worms (Polychaeta: Maldanidae). The gamont stage of Pterospora has a bizarre structure with a main cell body and multiple posterior cytoplasmic extensions (Fig. 1). The cells are found in pairs within the coelom of the host and move by cytoplasmic streaming as they fill and empty their posterior extensions. Reports of this parasite in the literature are few (see references 1 & 2 for a review) and no ultrastructural details have been published regarding the genus. This study examines the fine structure of the gamont stage with particular emphasis on the structure of the pellicle.

The maldanid worm Axiothella mucosa was collected by shovel in St. Andrew Bay, Florida and returned to the Troy State University campus. Pterospora spp. gamonts were pipetted from minced setigers of the worms and fixed in 3% glutaraldehyde buffered with 0.05M sodium cacodylate, pH 7.5, for 1-6 hours.

Type
Biological Ultrastructure (Cells, Tissues, Organ Systems)
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 5 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '99, Microscopy Society of America 57th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 33rd Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon August 1-5, 1999 , August 1999 , pp. 1274 - 1275
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

1) Landers, S.C. and Gunderson, J.. J. Protozool. 33(1986) 297–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2) Landers, S.C.. Eur. J. Protistol. 27(1991)55–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3) Chen, W-J. et al., J. Euk. Microbiol. 44(1997)101–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4) Walsh, R.D. Jr., and Callaway, C.S.. J. Protozool. 16(1969) 536–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5) Larsson, J.I.R. et al., Arch. Protistenkd. 141(1992) 119–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6) The author thanks Dr. Kent Keyser and the staff of the High Resolution Imaging Facility at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for their help with the microscopy, and Mr. John Foster for his help collecting Axiothella mucosa in St. Andrew Bay, FL.Google Scholar