User:Bracoll/sandbox

Nematocida parisii, the nematode-killer from Paris, is a species of Microsporidia fungi. It is found in wild isolates of Caenorhabditis elegans. The species replicates in the intestines of C. elegans. N. parisii is an intracellular parasite that is exclusively transmitted horizontally from one animal to another most commonly through the mouth or the feces.

Infection of N. parisii
Nematocida parisii is a parasite that completes its life cycle within its host. Once N. parisii gets into the intestines it forms small ovoid microbes that cause the intestinal wall to be more textured. The small microbes then become spores and leave holes in the intestinal wall. The microsporidian spores are likely to exit the cells by disrupting a conserved cytoskeletal structure in the intestine called the terminal web without damaging the host cells. It seems that none of the known immune pathways of C. elegans is involved in mediating resistance against N. parisii. Microsporidia were found in several nematodes isolated from different locations, indicating that microsporidia are common natural parasites of C. elegans.

Anatomy of N. parisii
There are two life stages of N. parisii which include the spore stage and the meront stage. The spores have a bulky cell wall to help them be able to live outside of the host cell during transmission. The spores include a polar tube that aids in the infection of the host cell. The tube helps the sporoplasm get into the host cell by turning itself inside out in order to get the sporoplasm close enough to the host cell to infect it. The sporoplasm becomes the merit which then becomes more spores after infection within the host cell. Once the spores have reached their mature stage they can can be let go for transmission to infect another host. Since the genome size is small and there are very few metabolic pathways which makes them need the host. Microsporidia are transmitted easier because their spores tend to be more tolerant of their environment.