Neorickettsia sennetsu

Classification

Higher order taxa

Kingdom: Bacteria

Phylum: Proteobacteria

Class: Alphaproteobacteria

Order: Rickettsiales

Family: Anaplasmataceae

Genus

Genus: Neorickettsia

Species: sennetsu

NCBI: Taxonomy

Description and significance

When research began on N. sennetsu it was classified as Ehrlichia sennetsu, based on the morphological, ecological, epidemiological and clinical infection characteristics, which were similar to other Erhlichia spp. More recent genetic analysis of the 16S rRna genes, heat shock proteins (groESL), surface proteins, and most recently RNA polymerase beta-subunit have reclassified Ehrlichia sennetsu as Neorickettsia sennetsu. The Anaplasmataceae family now consists of four genera, Ehrlichia, Neorickettsia, Wolbachia and Anaplasma.

Members of the family Anaplasmataceae are Gram-negative obligatory intracellular bacteria, meaning that they cannot survive out side their eukaryotic host cell. The different species within this family are specific to different compartments with in the host cell, such as granulocytes, platelets, endothelial cells, monocytes, macrophages, or red blood cells.

N. sennetsu is only infectious to human beings. This disease has only been found in Japan and Malaysia3. Though unknown, the vector of N. sennetsu is thought to be trematodes in fish. The bacteria infect those that eat improperly cooked fish or raw fish (according to the CDC). The bacteria invade monocytes and macrophages. The infection causes Sennetsu fever, which has the following symptoms fever, chills, headache, sore throat, insomnia4.

The entire genome of all four known strains of N. sennetsu are sequenced.

The following shows (a)the relationship between different species by the sequence of the 16S RNA gene and (b) the infection of a cell by E. sennetsu(5):

(a) (b)

Note: the above pictures were found on the Center for Disease Control website

Genome structure

Total number of DNA molecules: 1; circular chromosome; no plasmids

Total size of all DNA molecules: 859006bp

Total genes: 971

Protein coding genes: 935

tRNA genes: 33

mRNA genes: 3

Cell structure and metabolism

Describe any interesting features and/or cell structures; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

Ecology

Describe any interactions with other organisms (included eukaryotes), contributions to the environment, effect on environment, etc.

Pathology

How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

Application to Biotechnology

Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?

Current Research

Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required

References

example:

1. http://cmr.tigr.org/tigr-scripts/CMR/GenomePage.cgi?org=ges

Edited by student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano