Wolinella succinogenes

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Wolinella succinogenes

Classification

Higher order taxa

cellular organisms; Bacteria; Proteobacteria; delta/epsilon subdivisions; Epsilonproteobacteria; Campylobacterales; Helicobacteraceae; Wolinella

Species

Wolinella succinogenes

NCBI: Taxonomy

Genus species

=Description and significance

"Wolinella succinogenes" belongs to th epsilon subclass of proteobacteria along with its close relatives Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter hepaticus, and Campylobacter jejuni. H.pyori and C. jejuni are of the groups Helicobacteraceae and Campylobacteraceae respectively which are important pathogens in animals and humans. H. pylori has been associated with ulcers and gastric cancer and C. jejuni has been found to cause the illness guillain-Barre syndrome. Although Wolinella succinogenes has been coined as a member of Helicobacteraceae, it exists phylogenetically as in intermediate between the two groups mentioned. It was originally isolated from cattle rumen and then reisolated by other molecular methods and is found to be a nonpathogenic host asociated organism.(1)

Genome structure

Shotgun sequencing of Wolinella succinogenes revealed that it is composed of a circular chromosome of 2,110,355 base pairs. No plasmids were found (1). Having a larger genome content than relatives H. pylori, H. hepiticus, C.jejuni enables W.succinogenes to adapt to its bovine host rather its counterparts that occupy humans and rodents. "The close relatedness of these four species, [W.succinogenes, H.pylori, H. hepiticus, C.jejuni], has been demonstrated using morphological, physiological, and molecular classification methods, and this reflected in their gene content as they share ~50% of their genes". (2) This large range of uniformity in genomic content along with W.succinogenes having a larger genomic content suggests that the four relatives stem from a larger ancestral genome. Flexibe genomic islands and islets have been observed in particular regions of the genome suggesting that recent gene transfer into W. succinogenes may have occured.(1).

Cell structure and metabolism

Wolinella succinogenes is a cylindrical shaped organism with a single flagella at one of its poles. It is a nonfermenting bacterium that undergoes anaerobic fumerate respiration. Wolinella succinogenes' also contains protective enzymes that allow the bacteria to deal with reactive oxygen that may nter the cell.


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

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References

Baar C et al. (2003)

   Baar, C., Eppinger, M., Raddatz, G., Simon, J., Lanz, C., Klimmek, O., Nandakumar, R., Gross, R., Rosinus, A., Keller, H., Jagtap, P., Linke, B., Meyer, F., Lederer, H., and Schuster, S.C. "Complete genome sequence and analysis of Wolinella succinogenes." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2003) 100:11690-11695.


[Sample reference] Takai, K., Sugai, A., Itoh, T., and Horikoshi, K. "Palaeococcus ferrophilus gen. nov., sp. nov., a barophilic, hyperthermophilic archaeon from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 2000. Volume 50. p. 489-500.

Edited by student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano