Parasite spore. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a microsporidian (Tubulinosema ratisbonensis) spore cultured on human lung fibroblast c
Parasite spore. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a microsporidian (Tubulinosema ratisbonensis) spore cultured on human lung fibroblast cells (brown). Microsporidia are single-celled parasites. T. ratisbonenesis is a parasite of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), but may also be able to infect humans with weakened immune systems. The spore is the infective phase of the life cycle. It is excreted by the old host and enters the gut of a new host. The contents of the spore, the sporoplasm, is injected into the host's cell via the polar tubule. Once in the cell the organism divides many times with the resultant organisms producing more spores. Magnification: x10,000 at 10 centimetres wide.
Size: 4000px × 4000px
Photo credit: © EYE OF SCIENCE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: biological, biology, coloured, culture, false-coloured, infectious, intracellular, invertebrate, invertebrates, medical, medicine, microbiological, microbiology, microsporidian, nature, obligate, opportunist, opportunistic, parasite, parasitic, pathogen, pathogenic, poalr, protozoa, protozoan, ratisbonensis, sem, single, single-celled, spore, sporoplasm, stage, tubule, tubulinosema
