Effects of heat treatment on the symbiotic system of an aphid
mycetocyte. Symbiosis 11: 19-30.
citri, 5 bacterial symbionts were identified in a molecular survey including the primary (mycetocyte) symbiont Candidatus Carsonella rudii, a secondary (syncytium) symbiont related to species in the genera Oxalobacter and Herbaspirillum, an Arsenophonus species, Ca.
The third sequence (1459 bp, GenBank accession EF450250) produced significant alignments to the 16S rRNA gene of a [gamma]-proteobacterial species and was 99% identical to a homologous region of the 16S rRNA gene sequence from the primary (mycetocyte) symbiont, Ca.
Spores and hyphae of fungi in some Coleoptera may be housed in
mycetocytes, specialized cells of the intestinal epithelium, which can host symbiotic fungi.
Mycetocytes, which are specialized fat body cells harboring uricolytic bacteria, have been identified from only one termite species, Mastotermes darwiniensis (Bandi and Sacchi 2000).
Phase contrast and electron microscopy of the
mycetocytes and symbionts of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum.
This ultra-structural examination afforded an additional control: commensals present in the lumen and specialized to that environment might not grow on culture plates, but commensals and
mycetocytes, insect cells that incorporate microorganisms (Chapman, 1969), can be distinguished at the ultrastructural level (Smith, 1968).