Genome analysis and polar tube firing dynamics of mosquito-infecting microsporidia

• Review of genome sequences for two microsporidian species that infect mosquitoes.
• Largest genome size reported to date for microsporidia, which characteristically have small genomes.
• Video of the dynamics of polar tube firing in mosquito-infecting microsporidia.

Microsporidia are highly divergent fungi that are obligate intracellular pathogens of a wide range of host organisms. Here we review recent findings from the genome sequences of mosquito-infecting microsporidian species Edhazardia aedis and Vavraia culicis, which show large differences in genome size, although similar numbers of predicted genes. We also show a video of E. aedis polar tube firing, which is the dramatic mechanism used by microsporidia to deliver the germ cell (sporoplasm) into the host cell to initiate intracellular infection.