Hydra-Amoeba system: a double infection with a lethal ending

DESERTI, M. I.; JACOB LORENZO-MORALES; ACUÑA, F. H.

ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS.

ACAD BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2023 vol. 95 p. 1 - 14

0001-3765

Within each ecosystem, organisms and populations maintain a complex set of relationships. These interactions can determine the distribution area of a species, as well as play an essential role in its evolution. Parasites are ubiquitous components of nature and have high influence on various aspects of the biology and ecology of the organisms, affecting the populations of their hosts and, therefore, their communities and ecosystems. Free living amoeba are unicellular organisms that are ubiquitous in the nature. Can be found in large numbers in water, soil, or air and some species are of great importance in human health. In Hydra the association par excellence is endosymbiosis with algae of the genus Chlorella and species of the viridis group, however there are several reports of infections by Hydramoeba hydroxena. In this work, we present a double parasitosis with two different species of amoebae. In this special case, two concatenated infectious periods occur in the host polyp of Hydra vulgaris and Hydra vulgaris pedunculata sampled in three freshwater bodies of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hydramoeba sp. an Acanthoamoeba sp. unleash a series of severe anatomical lesions that in all cases cause the death of the infected polyps by total desintegration.