''Jaenimonas drosophilae'' is a trypanosomatid parasite of
mushroom-feeding flies, first characterized in ''
Drosophila neotestacea
''Drosophila neotestacea'' is a member of the ''testacea'' species group of ''Drosophila''. Testacea species are specialist fruit flies that breed on the fruiting bodies of mushrooms. These flies will choose to breed on psychoactive mushrooms s ...
'' and ''
Drosophila falleni
.
''Drosophila falleni'' is a species of fly found in northeastern North America. A mycophagous insect, it is known to feed on the fruit bodies (mushrooms) of several genera of fungi, including ''Agaricus'', ''Amanita'', '' Agrocybe'', ''Boletus ...
''. ''Jaenimonas'' takes up residence in the gut of the fly, and infection leads to reduced fecundity of its fly host.
The species is named for
John Jaenike
John Jaenike is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist, and currently a professor at the University of Rochester New York. Jaenike was an early proponent of the Red Queen Hypothesis, using the idea to explain the maintenance of sex. Jaenike is ...
, a prominent ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose work on mushroom-feeding flies laid the foundation for studies on
mycophagous Drosophila.
Of note, ''Jaenimonas'' is the only identified trypanosomatid parasite of a ''
Drosophila
''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...
'' species, and can facilitate study of insect-trypanosome infection dynamics; ''Drosophila'' have powerful genetic tools, and many trypanosomes are vectored by insects and are responsible for diseases such as
African sleeping sickness
African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. It is caused by the species '' Trypanosoma brucei''. Humans are infected by two ty ...
,
Chagas disease
Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily ''Triatominae'', known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change over the cou ...
, and
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus ''Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most freq ...
. Additionally, ''
Crithidia
''Crithidia'' is a genus of trypanosomatid Euglenozoa. They are parasites that exclusively parasitise arthropods, mainly insects. They pass from host to host as cysts in infective faeces and typically, the parasites develop in the digestive tra ...
'' trypanosomes are important parasites of
Bumblebees
A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...
implicated in
colony collapse disorder
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. While s ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q65058830
Trypanosomatida