Moser B A, Becnel J J, Maruniak J, Patterson R S
Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, Gainesville, Florida, 32604, USA.
J Invertebr Pathol. 1998 Sep;72(2):154-9. doi: 10.1006/jipa.1998.4776.
Sequences of the 16SrRNA gene of three microsporidia pathogenic to imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri, were determined and compared to each other and 15 other species of microsporidia. The sequences of 2 Thelohania species are nearly identical (99.2% identity), supporting light-microscopic and ultrastructural evidence that Thelohania solenopsae and Thelohania sp. are closely related but probably not conspecific. Sequence comparisons further revealed that Vairimorpha sp. has a sequence identity of about 73% with the two Thelohania species and Vairimorpha necatrix, the type species of the genus Vairimorpha. This, together with information on spore morphology, suggests that Vairimorpha sp. represents a genus distinct from that of the fire ant Thelohania. Its placement in the genus Vairimorpha must also be reevaluated. Two new sister taxa, one containing T. solenopsae and Thelohania sp. and one containing Vairimorpha sp., were found to have diverged early in the microsporidian lineage.
测定了对入侵红火蚁（Solenopsis invicta）和黑火蚁（Solenopsis richteri）致病的三种微孢子虫的16SrRNA基因序列，并将它们相互比较，还与其他15种微孢子虫进行了比较。两种泰勒微孢子虫（Thelohania）的序列几乎相同（同一性为99.2%），这支持了光学显微镜和超微结构证据，即索氏泰勒微孢子虫（Thelohania solenopsae）和泰勒微孢子虫属某物种（Thelohania sp.）密切相关，但可能并非同种。序列比较进一步显示，变形孢虫属某物种（Vairimorpha sp.）与这两种泰勒微孢子虫以及变形孢虫属模式种毁灭变形孢虫（Vairimorpha necatrix）的序列同一性约为73%。这与孢子形态学信息一起表明，变形孢虫属某物种代表了一个与红火蚁泰勒微孢子虫属不同的属。其在变形孢虫属中的分类地位也必须重新评估。发现两个新的姐妹类群，一个包含索氏泰勒微孢子虫和泰勒微孢子虫属某物种，另一个包含变形孢虫属某物种，它们在微孢子虫谱系中很早就已分化。
