And so, #14DaysofMicrobiologyPoems continues.
I reached out to the science Twitterverse earlier this month in search of 14 microbes worthy of poems.
Here is Poem Six, requested by @SloanMegan.
Herpetomonas muscarum: fly-parasite interactions
Herpetomonas muscarum.
A trypanosome.
A unicellular parasite.
It belongs to a group called kinetoplastida.
Like many of other kinetoplastida,
H. muscarum infects insects.
It’s a mouthful.
Kinetoplastida.
They’re named for its DNA-containing granule
That’s found at the base of the cell’s flagellum.
Herpetomonas muscarum is a rare type of trypanosomatid.
Where unlike the other types of trypanosomatids,
Its flagellum travels through a long groove across the cell.
The flagellum.
Needed for movement,
Infection,
Transmission.
But unlike other trypanosomatids,
H. muscarum infects a commonly studied organism.
The fruit fly called Drosophila melanogaster.
Other trypanosomes?
Trypanosoma brucei infects the tsetse fly.
Leishmania parasites infects the sand flies.
Traveling from insects to humans.
But unlike these flies, the fruit fly is much easier to work with.
Perhaps we could learn something about all trypanosomatids from it.
Give the Drosophila–Herpetomonas interaction a try.
Genetic systems and tools abound.
Further reading:
