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#Microsporidia

2 public questions tagged with this topic.

Fungi Classification

Microsporidia are best described as

Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites unable to grow outside host cytoplasm, depending entirely on host ATP and metabolites due to extreme genome compaction lacking tricarboxylic acid cycle genes and electron transport chain components. Spores injected via polar tube into host cells develop as meronts proliferating and sporonts forming spores. Free-living saprotrophs and photosynthetic fungi nonexistent in this phylum; facultative parasites can grow independently, which microsporidia cannot due to loss. They infect wide range hosts from protists insects to vertebrates causing chro

Ref: Campbell Biology 12th ed., Chapter 31: Microsporidia Obligate Intracellular Parasites; NCBI: Microsporidia Intracellular Pathogens - ASM Journals

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Fungi Classification

Microsporidia lack true mitochondria but possess

Microsporidia represent highly reduced parasitic fungi-related lineage lacking canonical mitochondria with oxidative phosphorylation and citric acid cycle. Instead contain tiny double-membrane organelles called mitosomes remnants of mitochondria retaining iron-sulfur cluster assembly machinery but lacking respiratory chain, mitochondrial genome and cristae. Hydrogenosomes occur in parabasalids producing hydrogen via fermentation, peroxisomes and glyoxysomes distinct peroxisome family with catalase. Discovery of mitosomes in Encephalitozoon cuniculi via Hsp70 immunolocalization confirmed mitoch

Ref: Campbell Biology 12th ed., Chapter 31: Microsporidia Mitosomes; NCBI: Microsporidia Mitochondrial Remnant - Mitosomes - Keeling et al.; J Eukaryot.

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