The Pasteuriaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of nonmotile

Gram-positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bacte ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

. They are moderately to strongly resistant to heat.

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in this family produce a septate

mycelium Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...

with one refractile

endospore An endospore is a dormant, tough, and non-reproductive structure produced by some bacteria in the phylum Bacillota. The name "endospore" is suggestive of a spore or seed-like form (''endo'' means 'within'), but it is not a true spore (i.e., no ...

. The mycelium grows bigger on one end to form sporangia and sometimes endospores. The size of the endospores is different for each species of the genus ''Pasteuria''. Species of the family of Pastueriaceae are endoparasitic in plant, soil, and freshwater invertebrates.

Parasitism

Bacteria of the Pasteuriaceae family are endoparasitic within nematodes or

cladocera The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, are a superorder of small crustaceans that feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter (excluding some predatory forms). Over 1000 species have been recognised so far, with many more ...

n hosts. After the infection, the host gets castrated by the parasite and shows gigantism. The infection pathway is not fully discovered yet. The core of the endospores is covered by glycoproteins that are presumed to be involved in the attachment of the endospores to the invertebrates host.

List of species of the genus ''Pasteuria''

# '' Pasteuria ramosa'' (Metchinokoff 1888) obligate endoparasite of water fleas of the genera ''

Daphnia ''Daphnia'' is a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, in length. ''Daphnia'' are members of the order Anomopoda, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their saltatory swimming style resembl ...

'' and ''

Moina ''Moina'' is a genus of crustaceans within the family Moinidae. The genus was first described by W. Baird in 1850. They are referred to as water fleas, but are related to the much larger ''Daphnia magna'' and the larger ''Daphnia pulex''. This ...

''. # '' Pasteuria nishizawae'' ( Sayre, Wergin, Schmidt and Starr 1992) obligate endoparasite of the pseudocoelom of ''

Heterodera glycines The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), ''Heterodera glycines'', is the most devastating pest to soybean crop yields in the U.S., targeting the roots of soybean and other legume plants. When infection is severe SCNs cause stunting, yellowing, impaired c ...

''. # ''

Pasteuria penetrans ''Pasteuria'' is a genus of mycelial and endospore-forming, nonmotile gram-positive bacteria that are obligate parasites of some nematodes and crustaceans. The genus of ''Pasteuria'' was previously classified within the family Alicyclobacilla ...

'' (Sayre and Starr 1986) parasites in the pseudocoelomic cavities of ''

Meloidogyne Root-knot nematodes are plant-parasitic nematodes from the genus ''Meloidogyne''. They exist in soil in areas with hot climates or short winters. About 2000 plants worldwide are susceptible to infection by root-knot nematodes and they cause appr ...

'' spp. # '' Pasteuria thornei'' (Starr and Sayre 1988) parasite of ''

Pratylenchus ''Pratylenchus'' is a genus of nematodes known commonly as lesion nematodes.Crow, W. TAmaryllis lesion nematode, ''Pratylenchus hippeastri''.EENY-546. University of Florida IFAS. 2012. They are parasitic on plants and are responsible for root le ...

''. # "''Candidatus'' Pasteuria usgae" ( Giblin-Davis, Williams, Bekal, Dickson, Brito, Becker and Preston 2003) obligate endoparasite of the pseudocoelom of '' Belonolaimus longicaudatus.'' Daphnia magna infected with the bacterium Pasteuria ramosa

Daphnia magna infected with the bacterium Pasteuria ramosa

References

Bacillales Endoparasites {{bacilli-stub

Parasitism

List of species of the genus ''Pasteuria''

See also

References