Microsporidia: a new taxonomic, evolutionary, and ecological synthesis

Jamie Bojko; Aaron W Reinke; Grant D Stentiford; Bryony Williams; Martin S J Rogers; David Bass

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2022.05.007

Microsporidia: a new taxonomic, evolutionary, and ecological synthesis

Trends Parasitol. 2022 Aug;38(8):642-659. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.05.007. Epub 2022 Jun 3.

Authors

Jamie Bojko¹, Aaron W Reinke², Grant D Stentiford³, Bryony Williams⁴, Martin S J Rogers⁵, David Bass⁶

Affiliations

¹ National Horizons Centre, Teesside University, Darlington, DL1 1HG, UK; School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, UK. Electronic address: J.Bojko@tees.ac.uk.
² Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ International Centre of Excellence for Aquatic Animal Health, Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science, Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth DT4 8UB, UK; Biosciences, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4HB, UK.
⁴ Biosciences, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4HB, UK.
⁵ Artifical Intelligence Laboratory, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
⁶ International Centre of Excellence for Aquatic Animal Health, Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science, Barrack Road, The Nothe, Weymouth DT4 8UB, UK; Biosciences, University of Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter, EX4 4HB, UK; Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK.

PMID: 35667993
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.05.007

Abstract

Microsporidian diversity is vast. There is a renewed drive to understand how microsporidian pathological, genomic, and ecological traits relate to their phylogeny. We comprehensively sample and phylogenetically analyse 125 microsporidian genera for which sequence data are available. Comparing these results with existing phylogenomic analyses, we suggest an updated taxonomic framework to replace the inconsistent clade numbering system, using informal taxonomic names: Glugeida (previously clades 5/3), Nosematida (4a), Enterocytozoonida (4b), Amblyosporida (3/5), Neopereziida (1), and Ovavesiculida (2). Cellular, parasitological, and ecological traits for 281 well-defined species are compared with identify clade-specific patterns across long-branch Microsporidia. We suggest that future taxonomic circumscriptions of Microsporidia should involve additional markers (SSU/ITS/LSU), and that a comprehensive suite of phenotypic and ecological traits help to predict broad microsporidian functional and lineage diversity.

Keywords: Amblyosporida; Enterocytozoonida; Glugeida; Neoperezida; Nosematida; Ovavesiculida.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Microsporidia* / genetics
Phylogeny

Grants and funding

400784/CIHR/Canada