Abstract
The phylum Microsporidia comprises an interesting group of intracellular fungal parasites that infect vertebrate and invertebrate hosts of commercial and medical significance. Microsporidia are unique for their mode of infection, whereby the spore contents are propelled through an inverting polar filament and injected into the host cell. Believed to branch among the earliest eukaryotes, microsporidia are now considered more highly evolved for exhibiting gene reduction and compaction, which also are signs of extreme parasite efficiency. This chapter highlights the unusual mechanism of infection and current classification of the microsporidia and describes the morphology, life cycle, and culture of microsporidia species of importance to arthropod, aquatic, and mammalian hosts.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the US National Institutes of Health (AI37188 to LMW, RR017386 to JLS and MLK, and OD011104 and AI071778 subcontract to ESD) that supported research results reported in this chapter. We also recognize the excellent technical assistance of Neil Sanscrainte (to JJB) and Lisa Bowers (to ESD).
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Didier, E.S., Becnel, J.J., Kent, M.L., Sanders, J.L., Weiss, L.M. (2014). 5 Microsporidia. In: McLaughlin, D., Spatafora, J. (eds) Systematics and Evolution. The Mycota, vol 7A. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55318-9_5
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