Rickettsia felis
A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Rickettsia felis
Classification
Higher order taxa
cellular organisms; Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Alphaproteobacteria; Rickettsiales; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsieae; Rickettsia; spotted fever group1
Species
Rickettsia felis
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NCBI: Taxonomy |
Description and significance
“Rickettsia felis” is an obligate intracellular parasite that was first isolated from cat fleas. It is a gram-negative bacteria that was that differs from Rickettsia typhi by only 32 nucleotide differences3. It was identified in patients clinically diagnosed with murine typhus4. It was originally thought to be a member of the typhus group of rickettsiae, but upon sequencing was found to be closer to the spotted fever group of rickettsiae5.
Genome structure
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Cell structure and metabolism
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Ecology
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Pathology
How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.
Application to Biotechnology
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Current Research
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References
Edited by student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano
