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Rickettsiaceae
The Rickettsiaceae are a family of bacteria. The genus ''Rickettsia'' is the most prominent genus within the family. The bacteria that eventually formed the mitochondrion (an organelle in eukaryotic cells) is believed to have originated from this family. Most human pathogens in this family are in genus ''Rickettsia''. They spend part of their lifecycle in the bodies of arthropods such as ticks or lice, and are then transmitted to humans or other mammals by the bite of the arthropod. It contains Gram-negative bacteria, very sensitive to environmental exposure, thus is adapted to obligate intracellular infection. '' Rickettsia rickettsii'' is considered the prototypical infectious organism in the group. Genomics Comparative genomic analysis has identified three proteins, RP030, RP187 and RP192, which are uniquely found in members of the family Rickettsiaceae and serve as molecular markers for this family. In addition, conserved signature indels in a number of proteins including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rickettsia Rickettsii
''Rickettsia rickettsii'' is a Gram-negative, intracellular, cocco-bacillus bacterium that was first discovered in 1902. Having a reduced genome, the bacterium harvests nutrients from its host cell to carry out respiration, making it an organo-heterotroph. Maintenance of its genome is carried out through vertical gene transfer where specialization of the bacterium allows it to shuttle host sugars directly into its TCA cycle. Other characteristics of the bacteria include membrane proteins that are useful in the identification of ''R. rickettsii'' strains and useful in targeting from antibiotics. A capsule encircling the bacterium allows for attachment to host cells and additionally acts as a defense mechanism for resisting phagocytosis. Varying strains of ''R. rickettsii'' have different genotypes and phenotypes that alter the pathogenicity, virulence, and the appearance of the bacteria. ''R. rickettsii'' is the causative agent of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and is transferre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orientia
''Orientia'' is a genus of bacteria in family Rickettsiaceae. They are obligate intracellular, gram-negative bacteria found in insects and mammals. They are spread through the bites or feces of infected insects. The genus comprises the species ''Orientia tsutsugamushi'' and ''Orientia chuto'', which both cause scrub typhus in humans. [Baidu] |
Rickettsia
''Rickettsia'' is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long). The genus was named after Howard Taylor Ricketts in honor of his pioneering work on tick-borne spotted fever. Properly, ''Rickettsia'' is the name of a single genus, but the informal term "rickettsia", plural "rickettsias," usually not capitalised, commonly applies to any members of the order Rickettsiales. Being obligate intracellular bacteria, rickettsias depend on entry, growth, and replication within the cytoplasm of living eukaryotic host cells (typically endothelial cells). Accordingly, ''Rickettsia'' species cannot grow in artificial nutrient culture; they must be grown either in tissue or embryo cultures. Mostly chicken embryos are used, following a method developed by Ernest William Goodpasture and his colleagues at Vanderbilt University i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitochondrion
A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cell (biology), cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double lipid bilayer, membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used throughout the cell as a source of chemical energy. They were discovered by Albert von Kölliker in 1857 in the voluntary muscles of insects. The term ''mitochondrion'', meaning a thread-like granule, was coined by Carl Benda in 1898. The mitochondrion is popularly nicknamed the "powerhouse of the cell", a phrase popularized by Philip Siekevitz in a 1957 ''Scientific American'' article of the same name. Some cells in some multicellular organisms lack mitochondria (for example, mature mammalian red blood cells). The multicellular animal ''Henneguya zschokkei, Henneguya salminicola'' is known to have retained mitochondrion-related organelles despite a complete loss of their mitochondrial genome. A large number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exonuclease VII
The enzyme exodeoxyribonuclease VII (EC 3.1.11.6, ''Escherichia coli'' exonuclease VII, ''E. coli'' exonuclease VII, endodeoxyribonuclease VII, exodeoxyribonuclease VII) is a bacterial exonuclease enzyme. It is composed of two nonidentical subunits; one large subunit and 4 small ones. that catalyses exonucleolytic cleavage in either 5′- to 3′- or 3′- to 5′-direction to yield nucleoside 5′-phosphates. The large subunit also contains an ''N''-terminal OB-fold domain that binds to nucleic acids. The widely used quinolone antibiotics induce DNA damage in bacterial cells by trapping DNA gyrase (an essential type II topoisomerase), leading to blocked gyrase cleavage complexes. Exonuclease VII participates in repairing such DNA damage by resolving the trapped cleavage complexes. When ''Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigma Factor
A sigma factor (σ factor or specificity factor) is a protein needed for initiation of Transcription (biology), transcription in bacteria. It is a bacterial transcription initiation factor that enables specific binding of RNA polymerase (RNAP) to gene promoter (biology), promoters. It is homologous to archaeal transcription factor B and to Eukaryote, eukaryotic factor TFIIB. The specific sigma factor used to initiate transcription of a given gene will vary, depending on the gene and on the environmental signals needed to initiate transcription of that gene. Selection of promoters by RNA polymerase is dependent on the sigma factor that associates with it. They are also found in plant chloroplasts as a part of the bacteria-like plastid-encoded polymerase (PEP). The sigma factor, together with RNA polymerase, is known as the RNA polymerase Enzyme#Cofactors, holoenzyme. Every molecule of RNA polymerase holoenzyme contains exactly one sigma factor subunit, which in the model bacterium '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FtsZ
FtsZ is a protein encoded by the ''ftsZ'' gene that assembles into a ring at the future site of bacterial cell division (also called the Z ring). FtsZ is a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic protein tubulin. The initials FtsZ mean "Filamenting temperature-sensitive mutant Z." The hypothesis was that cell division mutants of '' E. coli'' would grow as filaments due to the inability of the daughter cells to separate from one another. FtsZ is found in almost all bacteria, many archaea, all chloroplasts and some mitochondria, where it is essential for cell division. FtsZ assembles the cytoskeletal scaffold of the Z ring that, along with additional proteins, constricts to divide the cell in two. History In the 1960s scientists screened for temperature sensitive mutations that blocked cell division at 42 °C. The mutant cells divided normally at 30°, but failed to divide at 42°. Continued growth without division produced long filamentous cells (Filamenting temperature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcription Repair Coupling Factor
Mutation Frequency Decline (''mfd'') is the gene which encodes the protein Mfd (also known as Transcription Repair Coupling Factor, TRCF). Mfd functions in transcription-coupled repair to remove a stalled RNA polymerase that has encountered DNA damage and is unable to continue translocating. The protein is named after the fact that it reduces the chances of suppressor mutations in UV-irradiated cells (or rather, knockout cells show higher rates of such mutations). It does not reduce the chance of every kind of mutation. In fact, it seems to increase the chances of mutation in general, helping to evolve new traits such as antimicrobial resistance. Molecular function Mfd utilizes ATP to translocate along DNA, most likely forcing RNA polymerase forward and ultimately dissociating it from the DNA template. Mfd also contains binding domains which recruit UvrA and trigger the associated nucleotide excision repair pathway and was initially discovered when its mutation led to a decrea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conserved Signature Indels
Conserved signature inserts and deletions (CSIs) in protein sequences provide an important category of molecular markers for understanding phylogenetic relationships. CSIs, brought about by rare genetic changes, provide useful phylogenetic markers that are generally of defined size and they are flanked on both sides by conserved regions to ensure their reliability. While indels can be arbitrary inserts or deletions, CSIs are defined as only those protein indels that are present within conserved regions of the protein. The CSIs that are restricted to a particular clade or group of species, generally provide good phylogenetic markers of common evolutionary descent. Due to the rarity and highly specific nature of such changes, it is less likely that they could arise independently by either Convergent evolution, convergent or parallel evolution (i.e. homoplasy) and therefore are likely to represent synapomorphy. Other confounding factors such as differences in evolutionary rates at dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gram-negative Bacteria
Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the Crystal violet, crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelope consists of a thin peptidoglycan gram-negative cell wall, cell wall sandwiched between an inner (Cytoplasm, cytoplasmic) Cell membrane, membrane and an Bacterial outer membrane, outer membrane. These bacteria are found in all environments that support life on Earth. Within this category, notable species include the model organism ''Escherichia coli'', along with various pathogenic bacteria, such as ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'', ''Chlamydia trachomatis'', and ''Yersinia pestis''. They pose significant challenges in the medical field due to their outer membrane, which acts as a protective barrier against numerous Antibiotic, antibiotics (including penicillin), Detergent, detergents that would normally damage the inner cell membrane, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tick
Ticks are parasitic arachnids of the order Ixodida. They are part of the mite superorder Parasitiformes. Adult ticks are approximately 3 to 5 mm in length depending on age, sex, and species, but can become larger when engorged. Ticks are external parasites, living by feeding on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians. The timing of the origin of ticks is uncertain, though the oldest known tick fossils are around 100 million years old, and come from the Cretaceous period. Ticks are widely distributed around the world, especially in warm, humid climates. Ticks belong to two major families: the Ixodidae, or hard ticks, and the Argasidae, or soft ticks. '' Nuttalliella'', a genus of tick from southern Africa, is the only member of the family Nuttalliellidae, and represents the most primitive living lineage of ticks. Adults have ovoid/pear-shaped bodies (idiosomas) which become engorged with blood when they feed, and eight legs. Their cephalotho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
