An ultrastructural study of the marine diatom Licmophora hyalina and its parasite Ectrogella perforans. II. Development of the fungus in its host

Abstract

The thallus of the fungus Ectrogella perforans Petersen inside its host, the diatom Licmophora hyalina Agardh, is surrounded initially by two electron-dense membranes, of which the outer one is the invaginated host plasma membrane and the inner one, the fungal plasma membrane. Later, new membranes are added between these two membranes and the fungal envelope consists of four to six membranes. When the fungal thallus is mature, all the membranes except the fungal plasmalemma break down and it secretes an amorphous wall around itself. This coincides with the breakdown of host organelles followed by death of the host cell. Zoosporogenesis begins after the sporangium becomes multinucleate. A peculiar "multitubular body" is always observed in the multinucleate sporangium. A typical feature of the multinucleate sporangium prior to zoosporogenesis is the presence of a ring of tubular cisternae around the nuclei, electron-dense vesicles, and granular vesicles.The tubular cisternae found around the nuclei move away and act as cleavage cisternae. The cleavage cisternae run perpendicular to the sporangial plasma membrane and delimit the sporangial mass into uninucleate units at the time of zoosporogenesis. Simultaneously, vesicles are pinched off from the Golgi body which act as cleavage vesicles. These cleavage vesicles fuse with each other and form cleavage furrows. The cleavage cisternae fuse with the plasma membrane outside and with the cleavage vesicles inside and thus deepen the cleavage furrows. The sporangial mass is thus divided into zoospore units and the units are connected only by narrow cytoplasmic bridges. The zoospores have their flagella developed already. The structure of primary zoospores, encysted primary zoospores, and encysted secondary zoospores is described here.