Nosema bombycis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Phylum: | Microsporidia |
Family: | Nosematidae |
Genus: | Nosema |
Species: | N. bombycis
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Binomial name | |
Nosema bombycis Nägeli, 1857
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Nosema bombycis[1] is a species of Microsporidia of the genus Nosema infecting silkworms, responsible for pébrine. This species was the first microsporidium described, when pebrine decimated silkworms in farms in the mid-19th century. This description was made by Carl Nägeli. Louis Pasteur, taking up an idea of Osimo which had not been successful,[2] showed breeders a practical way to select uninfected individuals to recreate new healthy farms.
References
- ^ So named by K.W. Nägeli, "Ueber die neue krankheit der Seidenraupe und verwandte organismen", Botanische Zeitung, 1857; 15:760-761.
- ^ Pasteur mentions Osimo's ideas in Louis Pasteur, Studies on silkworm disease; Œuvres complètes, t. 4, p. 38-39, online. Summarizing a development by the Pasteurian Émile Duclaux (Émile Duclaux, Pasteur, histoire d'un esprit, Sceaux, 1896, p. 198, online), P. Debré writes that Pasteur was "led to propose a seed sorting method almost identical to that recommended a few years earlier by Orcino [read: Osimo]. If the latter had failed, asserts Pasteur, it was through a lack of confidence; which, of course, is not his case." P. Debré, Louis Pasteur, Flammarion, 1994, p. 210.