Plasmids and rickettsial evolution: insight from Rickettsia felis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The genome sequence of Rickettsia felis revealed a number of rickettsial genetic anomalies that likely contribute not only to a large genome size relative to other rickettsiae, but also to phenotypic oddities that have confounded the categorization of R. felis as either typhus group (TG) or spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae. Most intriguing was the first report from rickettsiae of a conjugative plasmid (pRF) that contains 68 putative open reading frames, several of which are predicted to encode proteins with high similarity to conjugative machinery in other plasmid-containing bacteria.

Methodology/principal findings

Using phylogeny estimation, we determined the mode of inheritance of pRF genes relative to conserved rickettsial chromosomal genes. Phylogenies of

SUBMITTER: Gillespie JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1800911 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature