title: Morphological and molecular investigations of a microsporidium infecting the European grape vine moth, Lobesia botrana Den. et Schiff., and its taxonomic determination as Cystosporogenes legeri nov. comb.
abstract: We have isolated a microsporidium from a laboratory stock of the European grape vine moth, Lobesia botrana Den. et Schiff. (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae). Screening of this stock showed an infection rate of more than 90%, whereas field collected larvae from three different locations in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany) did not demonstrate any signs of infection. Light and electron microscopic investigations of infected insects showed that gross pathology, morphology, and ultrastructure of the microsporidium are similar to those described earlier for Pleistophora legeri. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of the small subunit rDNA using maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and neighbour joining distance methods showed that our isolate was closely related to Cystosporogenes operophterae. Based on our morphological and molecular investigations we propose to rename this species Cystosporogenes legeri nov. comb.
authors.affiliation: Federal Biological Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute for Biological Control, Heinrichstr. 243, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany. R.Kleespies@bba.de
authors.forename: Regina G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Kleespies
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Vossbrinck
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Johannes A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jehle
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D021861:Microsporidia, Unclassified / Q000145:classification* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016881:Microsporidiosis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal