''Crithidia'' is a genus of
trypanosomatid Euglenozoa
Euglenozoa are a large group of flagellate Discoba. They include a variety of common free-living species, as well as a few important parasites, some of which infect humans. Euglenozoa are represented by three major clades, i.e., Kinetoplastea, Di ...
. They are
parasites that exclusively parasitise
arthropods, mainly insects. They pass from host to host as cysts in infective
faeces and typically, the parasites develop in the digestive tracts of insects and interact with the intestinal
epithelium
Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellul ...
using their
flagellum. They display very low host-specificity and a single parasite can infect a large range of invertebrate hosts. At different points in its life-cycle, it passes through
amastigote,
promastigote, and epimastigote phases; the last is particularly characteristic, and similar stages in other trypanosomes are often called crithidial.
The
etymology of the genus name ''Crithidia'' derives from the
Ancient Greek word (), meaning "small grain of barley".
Species
* ''
Crithidia bombi
''Crithidia'' is a genus of trypanosomatid Euglenozoa. They are parasites that exclusively parasitise arthropods, mainly insects. They pass from host to host as cysts in infective faeces and typically, the parasites develop in the digestive trac ...
'' is perhaps the most well documented species and is the most prevalent parasite of
bumblebees, including common species like ''
Bombus terrestris'', ''
Bombus muscorum
''Bombus muscorum'', commonly known as the large carder bee or moss carder bee, is a species of bumblebee in the family Apidae. The species is found throughout Eurasia in fragmented populations, but is most commonly found in the British Isles. '' ...
'', and ''
Bombus hortorum''.
The parasites negatively impact reproductive fitness of ''Bombus'' queens, as they affect their ovarian development as well as early colony establishment after the queens emerge from hibernation.
* ''
Crithidia mellificae
''Crithidia'' is a genus of trypanosomatid Euglenozoa. They are parasites that exclusively parasitise arthropods, mainly insects. They pass from host to host as cysts in infective faeces and typically, the parasites develop in the digestive trac ...
'' is a parasite of the
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
.
* ''
Crithidia brevicula
''Crithidia'' is a genus of trypanosomatid Euglenozoa. They are parasites that exclusively parasitise arthropods, mainly insects. They pass from host to host as cysts in infective faeces and typically, the parasites develop in the digestive trac ...
'' might incorporate species of the genus ''
Wallaceina
''Wallaceina'' is a genus of parasitic flagellate protist belonging to the family Trypanosomatidae. This generic name is a replacement name for ''Proteomonas'' Podlipaev, Frolov et Kolesnikov, 1990 because the latter ''Proteomonas'' was already ...
'' (''Wallaceina brevicula'', ''W. inconstans'', ''W. vicina'', and ''W. podlipaevi'') as suggested by molecular phylogenies based on
18S ribosomal RNA
18S ribosomal RNA (abbreviated 18S rRNA) is a part of the ribosomal RNA. The S in 18S represents Svedberg units. 18S rRNA is an SSU rRNA, a component of the eukaryotic ribosomal small subunit (40S). 18S rRNA is the structural RNA for the small c ...
and
glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase sequences.
* Other species include ''
C. fasciculata'', ''
C. deanei'', ''
C. desouzai'', ''
C. oncopelti'', ''
C. guilhermei'' and ''
C. luciliae''.
* ''C. deanei'' is atypical of the ''Crithidia'' genus, and it has been argued not a member of the ''Crithidia'' at all. It is not typical of trypanosomatids because of its unusual shape and it harbours
endosymbiotic bacteria. ''C. luciliae'' is the substrate for the
antinuclear antibody
Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs, also known as antinuclear factor or ANF) are autoantibodies that bind to contents of the cell nucleus. In normal individuals, the immune system produces antibodies to foreign proteins (antigens) but not to human prote ...
test used to diagnose lupus and other autoimmune disorders
Impact on bumble bees
These parasites may be at least partially responsible for declining wild bumble bee populations. They cause the bumble bees to lose their ability to distinguish between flowers that contain
nectar
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...
and those that don't. They make many mistakes by visiting nectar scarce flowers and in so doing, slowly starve to death. Commercially bred bumble bees are used in greenhouses to pollinate plants, for example tomatoes, and these bumble bees typically harbor the parasite, while wild bumble bees do not. It is believed that the commercial bumble bees transmitted the parasite to wild populations in some cases. They escape from the greenhouses through vents; a simple mesh could help prevent this.
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1998692
Trypanosomatida
Parasitic excavates
Euglenozoa genera