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A Phagomyxa ‐like Endoparasite of the Centric Marine Diatom Bellerochea malleus : A Phagotrophic Plasmodiophoromycete 1
Author(s) -
Schnepf E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
botanica acta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.871
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1438-8677
pISSN - 0932-8629
DOI - 10.1111/j.1438-8677.1994.tb00810.x
Subject(s) - zoospore , biology , flagellum , ultrastructure , parasite hosting , diatom , botany , algae , vacuole , microbiology and biotechnology , spore , cytoplasm , bacteria , world wide web , computer science , genetics
In September 1993 the marine centric diatom, Bellerochea malleus (Brightwell) Heurck, collected in the Wadden Sea near List/Sylt, was parasitized by a Phagomyxa algarum ‐like organism. Karling (1944) reported Phagomyxa algarum Karling in North Carolina as a parasite of the filamentous brown algae Ectocarpus and Pylaiella . The Bellerochea parasite develops an endocytoplasmic Plasmodium and incorporates host cytoplasm into a large, central digestion vacuole, by a form of phagocytosis. Later on, the Plasmodium cleaves to form a zoosporangiosorus. Each zoosporangium is surrounded by a thin wall. It releases zoospores (2.5 × 4 μm) with two unequal flagella, an anterior (4 μm long) and a posterior (8 μm long). Cystosori and cysts could not be detected. The ultrastructure of the zoosporangia and zoospores was investigated, with particular attention to the flagellar apparatus and its rearrangement during zoospore release. This process is very similar to that recorded for zoospores of the plasmodiophoromycete Polymyxa graminis Ledigham (Barr and Allan, 1982). The Bellerochea parasite is closely related to or identical with Phagomyxa algarum . The taxonomic position of Phagomyxa is discussed. In spite of its phagotrophic nutrition and the possible lack of cystosori and cysts, Phagomyxa should be regarded as a member of the Plasmodiophoromycota (or Plasmodiophorida) but not included in a separate order Phagomyxida as proposed by Cavalier‐Smith (1993a).