Sporoplasm is an infectious material present in the

cytoplasm The cytoplasm describes all the material within a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, including the organelles and excluding the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The material inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell a ...

of various

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

-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.Franzen, C. (2005). How do Microsporidia inva ...

''. Sporoplasm is defined as a mass of

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

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 division compared with the nearby tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which water molecules group together to form a bubb ...

. __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 (biology), cell, that has a specific function. The name ''organelle'' comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as Organ (anatomy), organs are to th ...

s enclosed in a simple

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

.{{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 ...

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

References

Fungi Microsporidia