1
|
Huang Q, Chen J, Lv Q, Long M, Pan G, Zhou Z. Germination of Microsporidian Spores: The Known and Unknown. J Fungi (Basel) 2023; 9:774. [PMID: 37504762 PMCID: PMC10381864 DOI: 10.3390/jof9070774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Revised: 07/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Microsporidia are a large group of mysterious obligate intracellular eukaryotic parasites. The microsporidian spore can survive in the absence of nutrients for years under harsh conditions and germinate within seconds under the stimulation of environmental changes like pH and ions. During germination, microsporidia experience an increase in intrasporal osmotic pressure, which leads to an influx of water into the spore, followed by swelling of the polaroplasts and posterior vacuole, which eventually fires the polar filament (PF). Infectious sporoplasm was transported through the extruded polar tube (PT) and delivered into the host cell. Despite much that has been learned about the germination of microsporidia, there are still several major questions that remain unanswered, including: (i) There is still a lack of knowledge about the signaling pathways involved in spore germination. (ii) The germination of spores is not well understood in terms of its specific energetics. (iii) Limited understanding of how spores germinate and how the nucleus and membranes are rearranged during germination. (iv) Only a few proteins in the invasion organelles have been identified; many more are likely undiscovered. This review summarizes the major resolved and unresolved issues concerning the process of microsporidian spore germination.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qingyuan Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Jie Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Qing Lv
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Mengxian Long
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Guoqing Pan
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Zeyang Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Microsporidia Infection and Control, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
- Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Pollinator Insect of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 400047, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chen Y, Wei E, Chen Y, He P, Wang R, Wang Q, Tang X, Zhang Y, Zhu F, Shen Z. Identification and subcellular localization analysis of membrane protein Ycf 1 in the microsporidian Nosema bombycis. PeerJ 2022; 10:e13530. [PMID: 35833014 PMCID: PMC9272817 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that can infect a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates including humans and insects, such as silkworm and bees. The microsporidium Nosema bombycis can cause pebrine in Bombyx mori, which is the most destructive disease in the sericulture industry. Although membrane proteins are involved in a wide range of cellular functions and part of many important metabolic pathways, there are rare reports about the membrane proteins of microsporidia up to now. We screened a putative membrane protein Ycf 1 from the midgut transcriptome of the N. bombycis-infected silkworm. Gene cloning and bioinformatics analysis showed that the Ycf 1 gene contains a complete open reading frame (ORF) of 969 bp in length encoding a 322 amino acid polypeptide that has one signal peptide and one transmembrane domain. Indirect immunofluorescence results showed that Ycf 1 protein is distributed on the plasma membrane. Expression pattern analysis showed that the Ycf 1 gene expressed in all developmental stages of N. bombycis. Knockdown of the Ycf 1 gene by RNAi effectively inhibited the proliferation of N. bombycis. These results indicated that Ycf 1 is a membrane protein and plays an important role in the life cycle of N. bombycis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yong Chen
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
| | - Erjun Wei
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
| | - Ying Chen
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
| | - Ping He
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
| | - Runpeng Wang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
| | - Qiang Wang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Sericulture, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Xudong Tang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Sericulture, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Yiling Zhang
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Sericulture, Zhenjiang, China
| | - Feng Zhu
- Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, Shangdong, China
| | - Zhongyuan Shen
- School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Sericulture, Zhenjiang, China
| |
Collapse
|