Nematopsis temporariae (Gregarinasina, Apicomplexa, Alveolata) is an intracellular infectious agent of tadpole livers.

CHAMBOUVET, Aurélie, Andrea VALIGUROVÁ, Lara M. PINHEIRO, Thomas A. RICHARDS and Miloslav JIRKŮ. Nematopsis temporariae (Gregarinasina, Apicomplexa, Alveolata) is an intracellular infectious agent of tadpole livers. Environmental Microbiology Reports. vol. 8, No 5, p. 675-679. ISSN 1758-2229. doi:10.1111/1758-2229.12421. 2016.

Basic information

• Original name: Nematopsis temporariae (Gregarinasina, Apicomplexa, Alveolata) is an intracellular infectious agent of tadpole livers.
• Authors: CHAMBOUVET, Aurélie (250 France), Andrea VALIGUROVÁ (703 Slovakia, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Lara M. PINHEIRO (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Thomas A. RICHARDS (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and Miloslav JIRKŮ (203 Czech Republic).
• Edition: Environmental Microbiology Reports, 2016, 1758-2229.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 10600 1.6 Biological sciences
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 3.363
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14310/16:00088151
• Organization unit: Faculty of Science
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12421
• UT WoS: 000395002300021
• Keywords in English: Amphibia; SSU rRNA phylogeny; parasite
• Tags: AKR
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Amphibians are in decline as a result of habitat destruction, climate change and infectious diseases. Tadpoles are thought susceptible to infections because they are dependent on only an innate immune system (e.g. macrophages). This is because the frog adaptive immune system does not function until later stages of the life cycle. In 1920, Nöller described a putative infectious agent of tadpoles named Nematopsis temporariae, which he putatively assigned to gregarine protists (Apicomplexa). Here, we identify a gregarine infection of tadpoles using both microscopy and ribosomal DNA sequencing of three different frog species (Rana temporaria, R. dalmatina, and Hyla arborea). We show that this protist lineage belongs to the subclass Gregarinasina Dufour 1828 and is regularly present in macrophages located in liver sinusoids of tadpoles, confirming the only known case of a gregarine infection of a vertebrate.

Links

• GBP505/12/G112, research and development project: Name: ECIP - Evropské centrum ichtyoparazitologie

Investor: Czech Science Foundation