Document of bibliographic reference 234941
BibliographicReference record
- Type
- Bibliographic resource
- Type of document
- Journal article
- BibLvlCode
- AS
- Title
- Microsporidia-nematode associations in methane seeps reveal basal fungal parasitism in the deep sea
- Abstract
- The deep sea is Earth's largest habitat but little is known about the nature of deep-sea parasitism. In contrast to a few characterized cases of bacterial and protistan parasites, the existence and biological significance of deep-sea parasitic fungi is yet to be understood. Here we report the discovery of a fungus-related parasitic microsporidium, Nematocenator marisprofundi n. gen. n. sp. that infects benthic nematodes at methane seeps on the Pacific Ocean floor. This infection is species-specific and has been temporally and spatially stable over 2 years of sampling, indicating an ecologically consistent host-parasite interaction. A high distribution of spores in the reproductive tracts of infected males and females and their absence from host nematodes' intestines suggests a sexual transmission strategy in contrast to the fecal-oral transmission of most microsporidia. N. marisprofundi targets the host's body wall muscles causing cell lysis, and in severe infection even muscle filament degradation. Phylogenetic analyses placed N. marisprofundi in a novel and basal clade not closely related to any described microsporidia clade, suggesting either that microsporidia-nematode parasitism occurred early in microsporidia evolution or that host specialization occurred late in an ancient deep-sea microsporidian lineage. Our findings reveal that methane seeps support complex ecosystems involving interkingdom interactions between bacteria, nematodes, and parasitic fungi and that microsporidia parasitism exists also in the deep-sea biosphere.
- WebOfScience code
- https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000331788900001
- Bibliographic citation
- Sapir, A.; Dillman, A.R.; Connon, S.A.; Grupe, B.M.; Ingels, J.; Mundo-Ocampo, M.; Levin, L.A.; Baldwin, J.G.; Orphan, V.J.; Sternberg, P.W. (2014). Microsporidia-nematode associations in methane seeps reveal basal fungal parasitism in the deep sea. Front. Microbiol. 5: 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2014.00043
- Topic
- Marine
- Is peer reviewed
- true
- Access rights
- open access
- Is accessible for free
- true
Authors
- author
-
- Name
- Amir Sapir
- author
-
- Name
- Adler Dillman
- author
-
- Name
- Stephanie Connon
- author
-
- Name
- Benjamin Grupe
- author
-
- Name
- Jeroen Ingels
- Identifier
- https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8342-2222
- author
-
- Name
- Manuel Mundo-Ocampo
- author
-
- Name
- Lisa Levin
- author
-
- Name
- James Baldwin
- author
-
- Name
- Victoria Orphan
- author
-
- Name
- Paul Sternberg
thesaurus terms
- term
- Deep sea (term code: 2145 - defined in term set: ASFA Thesaurus List)
- Fungi (term code: 3514 - defined in term set: ASFA Thesaurus List)
- Parasitism (term code: 6006 - defined in term set: ASFA Thesaurus List)