Howardula aoronymphium
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Howardula aoronymphium is a species of nematode that infects specialist mushroom-feeding fruit flies such as Drosophila falleni and Drosophila neotestacea. Mated female nematodes pierce the fly larva cuticle and take up residence in the hemolymph (insect blood) where they mature alongside fly development. When the adult fly ecloses, the nematode motherworm has reached full size and sheds juvenile nematodes into the hemolymph which are eventually excreted by the fly anus or ovipositor. Howardula nematodes can severely impact fly egg development, as infection can effectively sterilize some species.[1]
The inherited bacterial symbiont Spiroplasma poulsonii can defend flies against Howardula infection by attacking the nematodes using toxins analogous to sarcin or ricin.[2][3]
References
- ^ Perlman SJ and Jaenike J. 2003. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12703944
- ^ Jaenike et al. 2010. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/329/5988/212
- ^ Hamilton et al. 2016. https://www.pnas.org/content/113/2/350
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