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PloS One 2024Nosema disease, caused by Nosema ceranae, one of the single-celled fungal microsporidian parasites, is one of the most important and common diseases of adult honey bees....
Nosema disease, caused by Nosema ceranae, one of the single-celled fungal microsporidian parasites, is one of the most important and common diseases of adult honey bees. Since fumagillin, which has been used for decades in the control of Nosema disease in honey bees (Apis mellifera), poses a toxic threat and its efficacy against N. ceranae is uncertain, there is an urgent need to develop alternative prophylactic and curative strategies for the treatment of this disease. The main aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic potential of specific egg yolk immunoglobulins (IgY) on Nosema disease. For this purpose, the presence of N. ceranae was determined by microscopic and PCR methods in honey bees collected from Nosema suspicious colonies by conducting a field survey. Layered Ataks chickens, divided into four groups each containing 20 animals, were vaccinated with live and inactivated vaccines prepared from field isolates of N. ceranae. Eggs were collected weekly for 10 weeks following the last vaccination. IgY extraction was performed using the PEG precipitation method from egg yolks collected from each group, and the purity of the antibodies was determined by SDS-PAGE and Western Blot. The presence of N. ceranae-specific IgYs was investigated by Western Blot and indirect ELISA methods. It was determined that specific IgYs showed high therapeutic efficacy on Nosema disease in naturally infected bee colonies. In addition, honey bees collected from infected colonies were brought to the laboratory and placed in cages with 30 bees each, and the effectiveness of IgYs was investigated under controlled conditions. It was detected that specific IgY reduced the Nosema spore load and the number of infected bees significantly in both the field and experimental study groups treated for seven days. It was concluded that chicken IgYs, an innovative and eco-friendly method, had a significant potential for use as an alternative to antifungal drugs.
Topics: Animals; Bees; Nosema; Egg Yolk; Chickens; Antibodies
PubMed: 38335158
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297864 -
G3 (Bethesda, Md.) Apr 2024Pollinators are vital for food security and the maintenance of terrestrial ecosystems. Bumblebees are important pollinators across northern temperate, arctic, and alpine...
Pollinators are vital for food security and the maintenance of terrestrial ecosystems. Bumblebees are important pollinators across northern temperate, arctic, and alpine ecosystems, yet are in decline across the globe. Vairimorpha bombi is a parasite belonging to the fungal class Microsporidia that has been implicated in the rapid decline of bumblebees in North America, where it may be an emerging infectious disease. To investigate the evolutionary basis of pathogenicity of V. bombi, we sequenced and assembled its genome using Oxford Nanopore and Illumina technologies and performed phylogenetic and genomic evolutionary analyses. The genome assembly for V. bombi is 4.73 Mb, from which we predicted 1,870 protein-coding genes and 179 tRNA genes. The genome assembly has low repetitive content and low GC content. V. bombi's genome assembly is the smallest of the Vairimorpha and closely related Nosema genera, but larger than those found in the Encephalitozoon and Ordospora sister clades. Orthology and phylogenetic analysis revealed 18 core conserved single-copy microsporidian genes including the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) GCN5. Surprisingly, V. bombi was unique to the microsporidia in not encoding the second predicted HAT ESA1. The V. bombi genome assembly annotation included 265 unique genes (i.e. not predicted in other microsporidia genome assemblies), 20% of which encode a secretion signal, which is a significant enrichment. Intriguingly, of the 36 microsporidian genomes we analyzed, 26 also had a significant enrichment of secreted signals encoded by unique genes, ranging from 6 to 71% of those predicted genes. These results suggest that microsporidia are under selection to generate and purge diverse and unique genes encoding secreted proteins, potentially contributing to or facilitating infection of their diverse hosts. Furthermore, V. bombi has 5/7 conserved spore wall proteins (SWPs) with its closest relative V. ceranae (that primarily infects honeybees), while also uniquely encoding four additional SWPs. This gene class is thought to be essential for infection, providing both environmental protection and recognition and uptake into the host cell. Together, our results show that SWPs and unique genes encoding a secretion signal are rapidly evolving in the microsporidia, suggesting that they underpin key pathobiological traits including host specificity and pathogenicity.
Topics: Bees; Animals; Phylogeny; Ecosystem; Nosema; North America; Microsporidia
PubMed: 38334143
DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae029 -
Developmental and Comparative Immunology May 2024The model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is susceptible to infection by obligate intracellular pathogens, specifically microsporidia and viruses. These intracellular...
The model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is susceptible to infection by obligate intracellular pathogens, specifically microsporidia and viruses. These intracellular pathogens infect intestinal cells, or, for some microsporidia, epidermal cells. Strikingly, intestinal cell infections by viruses or microsporidia trigger a common transcriptional response, activated in part by the ZIP-1 transcription factor. Among the strongest activated genes in this response are ubiquitin-pathway members and members of the pals family, an intriguing gene family with cross-regulations of different members of genomic clusters. Some of the induced genes participate in host defense against the pathogens, for example through ubiquitin-mediated inhibition. Other mechanisms defend the host specifically against viral infections, including antiviral RNA interference and uridylation. These various immune responses are altered by environmental factors and by intraspecific genetic variation of the host. These pathogens were first isolated 15 years ago and much remains to be discovered using C. elegans genetics; also, other intracellular pathogens of C. elegans may yet to be discovered.
Topics: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Microsporidia; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Ubiquitin; Viruses
PubMed: 38325500
DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2024.105148 -
MSphere Feb 2024The ability of mosquitoes to transmit vertebrate pathogens depends on multiple factors, including the mosquitoes' life history traits, immune response, and microbiota...
UNLABELLED
The ability of mosquitoes to transmit vertebrate pathogens depends on multiple factors, including the mosquitoes' life history traits, immune response, and microbiota (i.e., the microbes associated with the mosquito throughout its life). The microsporidium is an obligate intracellular parasite that specifically infects mosquitoes and severely affects mosquito survival and other life history traits critical for pathogen transmission. In this work, we investigated how impacts bacterial infection with in mosquitoes. We measured development, survival, and bacterial load in both larval and adult stages of mosquitoes. In larvae, exposure was either horizontal or vertical and was introduced orally. Regardless of the route of transmission, exposure resulted in significantly higher loads in larvae. exposure also significantly reduced larval survival but subsequent exposure to had no effect. In adult females, exposure was only horizontal and was introduced orally or via intrathoracic injection. In both cases, infection significantly increased bacterial loads in adult female mosquitoes. In addition, females infected with and subsequently injected with suffered 100% mortality which corresponded with a rapid increase in bacterial load. These findings suggest that exposure to can influence the establishment and/or replication of other microbes in the mosquito. This has implications for understanding the ecology of mosquito immune defense and potentially disease transmission by mosquito vector species.
IMPORTANCE
The microsporidium is a parasite of the yellow fever mosquito, . This mosquito transmits multiple viruses to humans in the United States and around the world, including dengue, yellow fever, and Zika viruses. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide will become infected with one of these viruses each year. infection significantly reduces the lifespan of and is therefore a promising novel biocontrol agent. Here, we show that when the mosquito is infected with this parasite, it is also significantly more susceptible to infection by an opportunistic bacterial pathogen, . This novel discovery suggests the mosquito's ability to control infection by other microbes is impacted by the presence of the parasite.
Topics: Animals; Female; Humans; United States; Aedes; Parasites; Yellow Fever; Microsporidia; Larva; Zika Virus; Zika Virus Infection
PubMed: 38323845
DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00678-23 -
Parasitology Apr 2024spp., and microsporidia are unicellular opportunistic pathogens that can cause gastrointestinal infections in both animals and humans. Since companion animals may...
spp., and microsporidia are unicellular opportunistic pathogens that can cause gastrointestinal infections in both animals and humans. Since companion animals may serve as a source of infection, the aim of the present screening study was to analyse the prevalence of these intestinal protists in fecal samples collected from dogs living in 10 animal shelters in central Europe (101 dogs from Poland and 86 from the Czech Republic), combined with molecular subtyping of the detected organisms in order to assess their genetic diversity. Genus-specific polymerase chain reactions were performed to detect DNA of the tested species and to conduct molecular subtyping in collected samples, followed by statistical evaluation of the data obtained (using or Fisher's tests). The observed prevalence was 15.5, 10.2, 1 and 1% for , , spp. and , respectively. Molecular evaluation has revealed the predominance of dog-specific genotypes ( XXe1 subtype; assemblages C and D; genotype II; genotypes D and PtEbIX), suggesting that shelter dogs do not pose a high risk of human transmission. Interestingly, the percentage distribution of the detected pathogens differed between both countries and individual shelters, suggesting that the risk of infection may be associated with conditions typical of a given location.
Topics: Animals; Dogs; Dog Diseases; Enterocytozoon; Cryptosporidium; Microsporidiosis; Poland; Cryptosporidiosis; Feces; Czech Republic; Giardiasis; Prevalence; Giardia; Genotype; Giardia lamblia; Host Specificity
PubMed: 38305092
DOI: 10.1017/S003118202400009X -
Emerging Infectious Diseases Mar 2024Total joint arthroplasty is a commonly used surgical procedure in orthopedics. Revision surgeries are required in >10% of patients mainly because of prosthetic joint...
Total joint arthroplasty is a commonly used surgical procedure in orthopedics. Revision surgeries are required in >10% of patients mainly because of prosthetic joint infection caused by bacteria or aseptic implant loosening caused by chronic inflammation. Encephalitozoon cuniculi is a microsporidium, an obligate intracellular parasite, capable of exploiting migrating proinflammatory immune cells for dissemination within the host. We used molecular detection methods to evaluate the incidence of E. cuniculi among patients who had total hip or knee arthroplasty revision. Out of 49 patients, E. cuniculi genotypes I, II, or III were confirmed in joint samples from 3 men and 2 women who had implant loosening. Understanding the risks associated with the presence of microsporidia in periprosthetic joint infections is essential for proper management of arthroplasty. Furthermore, E. cuniculi should be considered a potential contributing cause of joint inflammation and arthrosis.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Microsporidia; Encephalitozoon cuniculi; Czech Republic; Encephalitozoonosis; Inflammation
PubMed: 38289719
DOI: 10.3201/eid3003.231263 -
Parasites & Vectors Jan 2024Malaria, a disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, is a major public health problem causing millions of deaths worldwide, mostly among children under the age of 5...
BACKGROUND
Malaria, a disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes, is a major public health problem causing millions of deaths worldwide, mostly among children under the age of 5 years. Biotechnological interventions targeting parasite-vector interactions have shown that the microsporidian symbiont Microsporidia MB has the potential to disrupt and block Plasmodium transmission.
METHODS
A prospective cross-sectional survey was conducted in Zinder City (Zinder), Niger, from August to September 2022, using the CDC light trap technique to collect adult mosquitoes belonging to the Anopheles gambiae complex. The survey focused on collecting mosquitoes from three neighborhoods of Zinder (Birni, Kangna and Garin Malan, located in communes I, II and IV, respectively). Collected mosquitoes were sorted and preserved in 70% ethanol. PCR was used to identify host species and detect the presence of Microsporidia MB and Plasmodium falciparum infection.
RESULTS
Of the 257 Anopheles mosquitoes collected and identified by PCR, Anopheles coluzzii was the most prevalent species, accounting for 97.7% of the total. Microsporidia MB was exclusively detected in A. coluzzii, with a prevalence of 6.8% (17/251) among the samples. No significant difference in prevalence was found among the three neighborhoods. Only one An. coluzzii mosquito tested PCR-positive for P. falciparum.
CONCLUSIONS
The results confirm the presence of Microsporidia MB in Anopheles mosquitoes in Zinder, Niger, indicating its potential use as a biotechnological intervention against malaria transmission. However, further studies are needed to determine the efficacy of Microsporidia MB to disrupt Plasmodium transmission as well as its impact on vector fitness.
Topics: Animals; Child; Humans; Child, Preschool; Anopheles; Plasmodium falciparum; Microsporidia; Niger; Cross-Sectional Studies; Prospective Studies; Mosquito Vectors; Malaria, Falciparum; Malaria; Plasmodium; Asteraceae
PubMed: 38287334
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-06059-7 -
Microorganisms Jan 2024The honey bee is exposed to a variety of biotic and abiotic stressors, such as the highly prevalent microsporidian parasite ( and neonicotinoid insecticides. Both can...
The honey bee is exposed to a variety of biotic and abiotic stressors, such as the highly prevalent microsporidian parasite ( and neonicotinoid insecticides. Both can affect honey bee physiology and microbial gut communities, eventually reducing its lifespan. They can also have a combined effect on the insect's survival. The use of bacterial probiotics has been proposed to improve honey bee health, but their beneficial effect remains an open question. In the present study, western honey bees were experimentally infected with spores, chronically exposed to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam, and/or supplied daily with the homofermentative bacterium MA18/5M thought to improve the honey bees' tolerance to the parasite. Deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing allowed the response of the gut microbiota to be investigated with a taxonomic resolution at the species level. All treatments induced significant changes in honey bee gut bacterial communities. infection increased the abundance of , , and and reduced the abundance of , , and spp. Supplementation with overturned some of these alterations, bringing back the abundance of some altered species close to the relative abundance found in the controls. Surprisingly, the exposure to thiamethoxam also restored the relative abundance of some species modulated by . This study shows that stressors and probiotics may have an antagonistic impact on honey bee gut bacterial communities and that may have a protective effect against the dysbiosis induced by an infection with
PubMed: 38258019
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010192 -
Microorganisms Jan 2024Microsporidia are a group of widespread eukaryotic spore-forming intracellular parasites of great economic and scientific importance. Since microsporidia cannot be...
Treatment of Microsporidium Spores with the New Antiseptic M250 Helps to Avoid Bacterial and Fungal Contamination of Infected Cultures without Affecting Parasite Polar Tube Extrusion.
Microsporidia are a group of widespread eukaryotic spore-forming intracellular parasites of great economic and scientific importance. Since microsporidia cannot be cultured outside of a host cell, the search for new antimicrosporidian drugs requires an effective antiseptic to sterilize microsporidian spores to infect cell lines. Here, we show that a new polyhexamethylene guanidine derivative M250, which is active against fungi and bacteria at a concentration of 0.5-1 mg/L, is more than 1000 times less effective against spores of the microsporidium , a highly virulent pathogen of the silkworm (LC is 0.173%). Treatment of spores that were isolated non-sterilely from silkworm caterpillars with 0.1% M250 solution does not reduce the rate of spore polar tube extrusion. However, it completely prevents contamination of the Sf-900 III cell culture medium by microorganisms in the presence of antibiotics. The addition of untreated spores to the medium results in contamination, whether antibiotics are present or not. Since 0.1% M250 does not affect spore discharging, this compound may be promising for preventing bacterial and fungal contamination of microsporidia-infected cell cultures.
PubMed: 38257981
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010154 -
Microorganisms Dec 2023The emergence of disease in shrimp has governed much concern in food safety and security among consumers with the recent reports on hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis... (Review)
Review
The emergence of disease in shrimp has governed much concern in food safety and security among consumers with the recent reports on hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis (HPM) caused by (EHP). The microsporidians present in shrimp remain a silent pathogen that prevents optimal shrimp growth. However, the biggest threat is in its food safety concerns, which is the primary focus in ensuring food biosecurity and biosafety. Hence, the objective of this review is to summarise the current knowledge of EHP and its infection in shrimp with food safety concerns. This paper provides an analysis of the diagnostic methods for detecting EHP infections in shrimp aquaculture. Interventions with current molecular biology and biotechnology would be the second approach to addressing EHP diseases. Finally, a systematic guideline for shrimp food safety using diagnostic and intervention is proposed. Thus, this review was aimed to shed light on effective methods for the diagnosis and prevention of EHP infection in shrimp. We also include information on molecular and genomics tools as well as innate immune biomolecules as future targets in the intervention strategies on the microsporidsosis life cycle in shrimp and its environment. Overall, this will result in reduced disease outbreaks in shrimp aquaculture, ensuring the shrimp food safety in the future.
PubMed: 38257848
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12010021