Spirochaetes

Guiqing Wang, UCLA Medical Centre, Los Angeles, California, USA
Ira Schwartz, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA

Published online: April 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004297

The spirochaetes are helically shaped or wave-like, motile bacteria whose phylogenetic relationships are evident at the level of gross phenotypic characteristics. They are easily recognizable by their morphological properties, and possess some genomic features that are unique among the prokaryotes.

Keywords: taxonomy; phylogeny; periplasmic flagella; genome analysis

Figure 1. Phylogeny of the spirochaetes as inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequences. The tree was constructed by the neighbour-joining method with MEGA software. The GenBank accession numbers of the representative sequences analysed are given after each of the species.
Figure 2. Morphology and ultrastructure of the spirochaetes. (a) Schematic diagram of the three representative genera Treponema (i), Leptospira (ii) and Borrelia (iii); (b) fluorescent micrograph of Borrelia burgdorferi; and (c) schematic diagram of a cross-section of B. burgdorferi.
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 References
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    Barbour AG and Hayes SF (1986) Biology of Borrelia species. Microbiological Reviews 50: 381–400.
    Canale-Parola E (1977) Physiology and evolution of spirochetes. Bacteriological Reviews 41: 181–204.
    Canale-Parola E (1978) Motility and chemotaxis of spirochetes. Annual Review of Microbiology 32: 69–99.
    Holt SC (1978) Anatomy and chemistry of spirochetes. Microbiological Reviews 42: 114–160.
    book Norris SJ and Larsen SA (2003) "Treponema and other host-associated spirochetes". In: Murray PR, Baron EJ, Pfaller MA et al. (eds) Mannual of Clinical Microbiology 8th ed., pp. 636–651. Washington, DC: American Society of Microbiology
    book Penn CW, Johnson RC and Faine S (1998) "Treponema, Borrelia and Leptospira". In: Collier L, Balows A and Sussman M (eds), Topley & Wilson's Microbiology and Microbial Infections, 9th ed. vol. 2, pp. 1257–1303. New York: Arnold

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Bacteria | Microbial Evolution and Taxonomy
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Article Title: Spirochaetes
 
How to Cite close
Wang, Guiqing, and Schwartz, Ira(Apr 2006) Spirochaetes. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0004297]