Multiple parasite life cycle stages in single infected hypertrophic host nucleus (arrowhead), showing 2 large sporogonal plasmodia (asterisks) adjacent to mature spores lying in direct contact with host nucleoplasm (arrow). Scale bar = 2 μm . From Enterospora canceri n. gen., n. sp., intranuclear within the hepatopancreatocytes of the European edible crab Cancer pagurus. G. D. Stentiford, K. S. Bateman, M. Longshaw, S. W. Feist (CC-BY-4.0)

The genome sequence and gene models of Enterospora canceri GB1 were not determined by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), but were downloaded from Ensembl Fungi on April 11, 2020. Please note that this copy of the genome is not maintained by Ensembl and is therefore not automatically updated. The JGI Annotation Pipeline was used to add additional functional annotation to the author's chromosomes and proteins.

Enterospora canceri is an intracellular parasite in the phylum Microsporidia. These parasites infect host cells by sending out fine tube which pierces the host cell and is used to pass the spore contents into the host cell cytoplasm. This species infects the edible crab Cancer pagurus. It is unusual in that it infects the nucleus of its host. It has a highly reduced genome and encodes neither the electron transport chain nor a full glycolytic pathway.