Smittium (Harpellales, Legeriomycetaceae) belongs to a cosmopolitan group of filamentous fungi (Trichomycetes, Zygomycota) that live as obligate commensals in the digestive tract of various marine, freshwater, and terrestrial arthropods. The outcome of the paired introductions of three species of Smittium was investigated within the individual hosts of the mosquito Aedes aegypti (Culicidae: Diptera). In the first set of experiments, the host was inoculated with a single species of Smittium to determine whether hyphae location within the host was species specific. In the second experiment the host was exposed to two species of Smittium to determine whether hyphae showed positional displacement when two species of fungi co-inhabited the same host gut. Single species introductions of Smittium resulted in 80-85% of hosts with hyphae present only in the rectum. In all three paired combinations of Smittium species examined, only 40-65% of host larvae had hyphae restricted to the rectum. This is first study to experimentally demonstrate that the microdistribution of Harpellaceae hyphae can be influenced by the presence of a second species of Harpellaceae, suggesting a competition of the symbionts within the host.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mycres.2008.06.024 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
De Novo Long-Read Genome Assembly and Annotation of the Mosquito Gut-Dwelling Fungus, Smittium minutisporum.
Genome Biol Evol
December 2024
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada M1C 1A4.
Mosquito guts host a variety of microbes, yet fungi are often overlooked. Smittium (Harpellales, Zoopagomycota) comprises numerous species that are obligate symbionts residing in the hindgut of mosquito larvae. Despite their association with pathogen-bearing vectors, these fungal symbionts remain understudied, largely due to the lack of high-quality genome resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetagenomics of the midgut microbiome of Rhipicephalus microplus from China.
Parasit Vectors
February 2022
Research Center for Parasites & Vectors, College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, Hunan province, China.
Background: Ticks, which are ectoparasites of animals, may carry multiple pathogens. The cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus is an important bovine parasite in China. However, the midgut microbiome of R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiversification of the gut fungi Smittium and allies (Harpellales) co-occurred with the origin of complete metamorphosis of their symbiotic insect hosts (lower Diptera).
Mol Phylogenet Evol
October 2019
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada; Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada.
Smittium (Harpellales, Kickxellomycotina) includes fungal symbionts associated with the digestive tracts of immature aquatic stages of various Diptera, including Chironomidae, Culicidae, Dixidae, Simuliidae, Thaumaleidae, and Tipulidae. With 84 species and the largest collection of cultured strains, Smittium has served as a model to understand the biology of these enigmatic trichomycetes gut fungi, from aspects of biodiversity, evolution, genomics, immunology, and physiology. However, evolutionary histories between Smittium species and their hosts are still not firmly established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing a five-gene phylogeny to test morphology-based hypotheses of Smittium and allies, endosymbiotic gut fungi (Harpellales) associated with arthropods.
Mol Phylogenet Evol
October 2014
Boise State University, Department of Biological Sciences, Boise, ID 83725-1515, USA. Electronic address:
Smittium, one of the first described genera of gut fungi, is part of a larger group of endosymbiotic microorganisms (Harpellales) that live predominantly in the digestive tracts of aquatic insects. As a diverse and species-rich taxon, Smittium has helped to advance our understanding of the gut fungi, in part due to the relative success of attempts to culture species of Smittium as compared to other members of Harpellales. Approximately 40% of the 81 known species of Smittium have been cultured.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOrphella intropus (Kickxellomycotina), a new insect endosymbiont with an unusual perforating holdfast system and other trichomycetes from Italy.
Mycologia
September 2014
Unitat de Botànica, Dept. Biologia Animal, Vegetal i Ecologia. Fac. Biociènces, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 08193-Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain.
New data about trichomycetes (arthropod gut endosymbionts) from northern Italy (Piedmont [Piemonte] region) are reported, including the description of two new species of Harpellales: Glotzia distorta from mayfly nymphs and Orphella intropus from stonefly nymphs. The latter species is characterized by a cellular bulbous holdfast that perforates the gut lining of its host. Sixteen additional geographical records for Italy are provided, including from the Harpellales, Harpellomyces eccentricus, Graminella bulbosa, Orphella catalaunica, Pennella grassei, Smittium perforatum, Sm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!