- A-Z
- Endocytobiosis and ...
- Volume 20
- Saccamoeba limax (H...
- Autor(in)
- Seitenbereich
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038-044
- Schlagwort(e)
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Saccamoeba, endoparasites, Chlamydia-like, bacteriophage
- Zusammenfsg.
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Vannella-like amoebae, which were isolated from Elodea sp. purchased through a mail-order company, were found to harbor two strains of endocytic bacteria. Although the original host culture died out because of a massive infection, a Saccamoeba strain grown from the same sample proved susceptible to the endocytobionts and served as a wet nurse for the studies described herein. Electron microscopy showed that the first endocytobiont was a Chlamydia-like bacterium because it produced elementary and reticulate bodies characteristic of Chlamydiales. The second endocytobiont also exhibited dimorphic Gram-negative stages with round to oval shapes that were different from the shapes of the first endocytobiont. In addition, the Chlamydia-like bacterium was found to harbor bacteriophages that we have tentatively named Neo-Ph3. Cocultivation assays with various free-living amoebae showed that the endocytobionts exhibited a high degree of host specificity. Only amoebae of the genus Saccamoeba were susceptible to the endoparasites.