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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #80247
Title: PHYLOGENETIC POSITION OF AMBLYOSPORA HAZARD AND OLDACRE (MICROSPORA: AMBLYOSPORIDIAE) BASED ON SMALL SUBUNIT RRNA DATA AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE MICROSPORIDIA

Author
item BAKER, MICHAEL - UNIV OF AZ - DEPT OF ENT
item VOSSBRINCK, CHARLES - CONN AG EXP STATION
item Becnel, James
item MADDOX, JOSEPH - CENTER FOR ECONOMIC ENT

Submitted to: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/30/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Naturally occurring protozoan parasites (Microsporidia) of mosquitoes are under study to evaluate and develop these disease causing organisms as biological control agents. Microsporidian parasites are known to cause mortality in mosquitoes worldwide, but fundamental knowledge on their phylogenetic relationships to microsporidia from other organisms is incomplete. This molecular investigation performed by scientists at the University of Arizona, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, and the Illinois Natural History Survey, compares two species of the genus Amblyospora from mosquitoes with sixteen other microsporidia from a broad spectrum of hosts. The results provide a high degree of support for the basal position of the genus Amblyospora among the microsporidia examined and indicates that it forms a sister taxon. New information obtained here contributes to our basic understanding of these parasites which will assist in the evaluation and development of microsporidia as biocontrol agents.

Technical Abstract: Sequences of the small subunit rRNA genes of Amblyospora californica and an Ambllyospora sp. from Culex salinarius were determined. These sequences were compared phylogenetically with sixteen other microsporidia. The results suggest that Amblyospora forms a sister taxon to the rest of the microsporidia examined. The basal position of Ambllyospora is discussed with respect to the evolution of microsporidian life cyclels. These sequences represent the longest microsporidian small subunit rRNA genes sequenced to date, 1,359 and 1,358, respectively. Structural features and GC content (49% for both) are comparable to those of other microsporidia which have been sequenced.