Publication details
Motility in phylogenetically distant groups of gregarines (Apicomplexa) parasitising marine hosts
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | One of the most medically and economically important group of parasites belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa. Gregarines, relatively large parasitic protists inhabiting the intestine, coelom or extracellular space of invertebrates’ hosts, represent an early emerging group within this phylum. Especially marine gregarines possess several plesiomorphic characteristics retained from the most recent ancestors of all apicomplexans. Motility in these parasites usually differs from the substrate-dependent gliding generally described in apicomplexan zoites, the so called “glideosome” concept [1]. In gregarines cell motility seems to depend on mechanico-chemical system and cytoskeletal structures (subpellicular network of microtubules, intermediate filaments, actomyosin motor). They rather utilize several mechanisms of motility that correlate with various modifications of their cell cortex (epicyte), which differ between phylogenetical groups of gregarines. Present research was mostly focused on the motility of three lineages: blastogregarines, archigregarines and eugregarines parasitising marine invertebrates collected near to the White Sea Biological Station Moscow State University in Russia. Research was focused on principles of parasites’ movement. To prove the need for dynamic turnover of actin polymerisation and stable network of subpellicular microtubules in gregarine motility, experiments with several commercial probes influencing the polymerisation of actin and tubulin were applied to suspensions of living parasites. Parasites were studied under light microscope and gradual changes in their motility were recorded in video. Incubated cells from each motility assay were fixed for electron (TEM, SEM) and confocal laser scanning (CLSM) microscopic analyses of induced cytoskeletal or other subcellular changes (such as potential membrane damage induced by drugs). |
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