Endoparasite KC5/2 encloses large areas of sol-like cytoplasm within Acanthamoebae . Normal behavior or aberration?

Abstract

In addition to the characteristic development of the rod-shaped or tube-like endocytobionts replicating within the sol-like cytoplasm of acanthamoebae which was published recently (Michel et al. ) we observed the strange behavior of the endoparasites described as follows. The material normally forming the characteristic cell walls of KC5/2 organisms was found to form a long array along the borderline between the granuloplasm and the central homogenous sol-like cytoplasm, so that about one third of the sol plasm had already been surrounded. We do not know whether this process belongs to the normal developmental repertoire of the endocytobiont that was interrupted by fixation for electron microscopy, or whether it is an aberrant behavior.