ИСТИНА

The focused research on Microsporidia (M) in Russia counts from mid-60ies, when Irma Issi defended her PhD dissertation “The microsporidiosis of Cabbage White and other insects, and its biological importance”, and established a Microsporidia research group, “Issi’s lab”, within the Laboratory for Microbiological Control, Institute for Plant Protection, St.Petersburg, Russia. This lab has been running by her for more than 50 years now, and became an “incubator” for young microsporidiologists: >30 PhD students from all over the former Soviet Union have passed through the lab and graduated under Prof. Issi’s supervision. The research have been focused on: (1) host population control by M and possible application of M in microbiological control; (2) interactions of M with the insect host: impact on immunity and physiology; (3) host-parasite relations at the cellular and subcellular levels; (4) taxonomy of M. One of the brightest research achievements of the lab was a long-term (over 25 years) observation on the epizooty of Nosema mesnili in Pieris brassicae that demonstrated how the microspridium took the control over the host population. Peaks and declines in host and parasite densities were accompanied by alterations in the microsporidium host cycle and switches of transmission routes. Unfortunately this research was published only in Russian. Dr.Issi’s monograph “Microsporidia as a Phylum of Parasitic Protists (1986)” focused on the taxonomy, systematics and origin of M, was translated to English by Dr.Lipa and printed in 1991 by the request of SIP Microsporidia Division. Irma’s studies were enthusiastically continued by her graduates, Vladimir Voronin, Petr Kilotchitsky (both specialized in microsporidia from freshwater hosts), Tamara Pankova (M from East-Siberian host), Viatcheslav Dolgikh (gave “a new breath” to the lab by establishing advanced biochemical, cell and molecular biology approaches), and myself (life cycles, taxonomy and cell biology of M), to mention only a few. The next generation of Dr.Issi’s prodigious “grandkids”, Yuriy Tokarev, Elena Nassonova and Anastasiya Simakova, have already established themselves as international scholars. I will also focus on the three major recent “highlights” of Russian microsporidiology: structure and functional of secretory compartment of M, biochemistry of host-parasite relations, and studies on metchnikovellids.