The longest symbiotic bacterium as found in a membracid insect.
An insect tumour cell, carrying germs, contains nuclei and also cellular debris as protoplasmic and nuclear degradation bodies. In histological sections the nucleus may be seen surrounded by such bodies, cut across, which then appear round in form. They have therefore been mistaken for yeast-like germs, called "Cicadomyces". But in smears the protoplasmic debris is stained blue and reveals bizarre shapes. T. assamensis is an exception and offers the key to properly interpret the bodies named Cicadomyces. Its symbiote is a long filamentous bacterium and persists in protoplasmic debris, the so-called Cicadomyces. Since Cicadomyces themselves cannot be infected by germs as long as themselves, the former can only represent cellular degradation bodies.
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000382:microbiology; D007194:India; D007313:Insecta / Q000382:microbiology*; D013559:Symbiosis