Microsporidia are natural intracellular parasites of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: For decades the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been an important model system for biology, but little is known about its natural ecology. Recently, C. elegans has become the focus of studies of innate immunity and several pathogens have been shown to cause lethal intestinal infections in C. elegans. However none of these pathogens has been shown to invade nematode intestinal cells, and no pathogen has been isolated from wild-caught C. elegans. Here we describe an intracellular pathogen isolated from wild-caught C. elegans that we show is a new species of microsporidia. Microsporidia comprise a large class of eukaryotic intracellular parasites that are medically and agriculturally important, but poorly understood. We show that microsporidian infection of the C. elegans intestine p

SUBMITTER: Troemel ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2596862 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature