Sporoplasm is an infectious material present in the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. The ...

of various

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

-like organisms, such as members of class ''

Microsporidia Microsporidia are a group of spore-forming unicellular parasites. These spores contain an extrusion apparatus that has a coiled polar tube ending in an anchoring disc at the apical part of the spore. They were once considered protozoans or prot ...

''. Sporoplasm is defined as a mass of

protoplasm Protoplasm (; ) is the living part of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane. It is a mixture of small molecules such as ions, monosaccharides, amino acid, and macromolecules such as proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, etc. In some defini ...

that gives rise to or forms a spore. The protoplasmic body that is released as an infective amoebula from a cnidosporidian

cyst A cyst is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and cell division, division compared with the nearby Biological tissue, tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of Cell (biology), cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which ...

. __TOC__

Mode of infection

It is injected to host cell through a coiled polar tube which acts as a spring-like tubular extrusion mechanism. It is mainly involved in the asexual cycle of the organism.

Reproduction

Inside the host cell, the sporoplasm multiplies to generate meronts, cells with loosely organized

organelle In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit, usually within a cell, that has a specific function. The name ''organelle'' comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as organs are to the body, hence ''organelle,'' the ...

s enclosed in a simple

plasma membrane The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane (PM) or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of all cells from the outside environment (t ...

.{{Cite web, url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/humbio103/ParaSites2006/Microsporidiosis/microsporidia1.html, title=MICROSPORIDIA, website=web.stanford.edu, access-date=2019-12-31 Multiplication occurs either by

merogony Apicomplexans, a group of intracellular parasites, have life cycle stages that allow them to survive the wide variety of environments they are exposed to during their complex life cycle. Each stage in the life cycle of an apicomplexan organism i ...

(binary fission) or

schizogony Fission, in biology, is the division of a single entity into two or more parts and the regeneration of those parts to separate entities resembling the original. The object experiencing fission is usually a cell, but the term may also refer to how ...

(multiple fission) or plasmotomy (division of nucleus without relation to cytoplasm to produce multi-nucleated offspring).

References

Fungi Microsporidia