Tetracycline therapy targets intracellular bacteria in the filarial nematode Litomosoides sigmodontis and results in filarial infertility.

ABSTRACT: Intracellular bacteria have been described in several species of filarial nematodes, but their relationships with, and effects on, their nematode hosts have not previously been elucidated. In this study, intracellular bacteria were observed in tissues of the rodent parasite Litomosoides sigmodontis by transmission electron microscopy and by immunohistochemistry using antiendobacterial heat shock protein-60 antisera. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene, isolated by PCR, showed a close relationship to the rickettsial Wolbachia endobacteria of arthropods and to other filarial intracellular bacteria. The impact of tetracycline therapy of infected rodents on L. sigmodontis development was analyzed in order to understand the role(s) these bacteria might play i

SUBMITTER: Hoerauf A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC407866 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature