The Genome Sequence of Rickettsia felis Identifies the First Putative Conjugative Plasmid in an Obligate Intracellular Parasite |
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| Authors: | Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata Hiroyuki Ogata |
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| Affiliation: | 1 Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory, UPR 2589, IBSM, CNRS, Marseille Cedex, France, 2 Unité des Rickettsies, UMR 6020, IFR 48, CNRS, Faculté de Médecine, Marseille Cedex, France |
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| Abstract: | We sequenced the genome of Rickettsia felis, a flea-associated obligate intracellular α-proteobacterium causing spotted fever in humans. Besides a circular chromosome of 1,485,148 bp, R. felis exhibits the first putative conjugative plasmid identified among obligate intracellular bacteria. This plasmid is found in a short (39,263 bp) and a long (62,829 bp) form. R. felis contrasts with previously sequenced Rickettsia in terms of many other features, including a number of transposases, several chromosomal toxin–antitoxin genes, many more spoT genes, and a very large number of ankyrin- and tetratricopeptide-motif-containing genes. Host-invasion-related genes for patatin and RickA were found. Several phenotypes predicted from genome analysis were experimentally tested: conjugative pili and mating were observed, as well as β-lactamase activity, actin-polymerization-driven mobility, and hemolytic properties. Our study demonstrates that complete genome sequencing is the fastest approach to reveal phenotypic characters of recently cultured obligate intracellular bacteria. |
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