Small Subunit Ribosomal
RNA Genes of Microsporidia
WANG Jian-Yang, HUANG Ke-Wei*, MAO Xi-Cheng1,
ZHAO Yun1, LU Chang-De1
( Sericultural Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences, Zhenjiang 212018, China；1Institute of Biochemistry and
�–ell Biology, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, the Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Shanghai 200031,
China )
Abstract
Microsporidia are ubiquitous intracellular parasitic protozoa infecting all
types of animals. Their ribosomes and rRNAs are of prokaryotic size.In order to
better understand their phylogenetic relationship and identify the uncertain
species, the sequences of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (ssurRNA, 16 S rRNA)
genes of nine microsporidia infectious to the silkworm, Bombyx mori,
were determined. The results of phylogenetic trees and Southern blotting
suggest all the nine strains of microsporidia are various species of the genus Nosema.
Key words microsporidia； ssurRNA gene； phylogenetic relationship
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