The entomogenous fungus Erynia neoaphidis formed protoplasts within the body of its aphid host, Acyrthosiphon pisum. The protoplasts were filamentous, irregular, oval or amoeboid. Their ultrastructure differed from that of walled cells of the fungus: protoplasts had smaller mitochondria and more stacked, rough endoplasmic reticulum, their plasma membrane had a thin, fibrous coat on the exoplasmic surface, and they lacked the electron-dense bodies present in walled cells. Invaginations of the protoplast plasma membrane suggest that the protoplasts feed by pinocytosis.
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