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Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Veterinary bacteriology: information about important bacteria
Veterinary bacteriology


Species/Subspecies: Ehrlichia ruminantium
Etymology: Genus name: named after the German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915).
Species epithet: of ruminants.
Significance:The disease occurs in Africa and the Caribbean, where it causes serious problems in the livestock sector.
  [Of minor importance]   
Alternative Species Name(s):Cowdria ruminantium
Taxonomy:
Phylum
Pseudomonadota
Class
Alphaproteobacteria
Order
Rickettsiales
Family
Anaplasmataceae 
Genus
Ehrlichia
Type Strain: Welgevonden.
Macromorphology (smell): Cannot be cultivated on cell free substrates (e.g. agar plates).
Micromorphology: Coccoid to elipsoid cells (about 0,5 µm i diameter), which are nonmotile. A morula can be up to 4 µm in diameter.
Gram +/Gram -:G-
Metabolism: Aerobic
Catalase/Oxidase:
Fermentation of carbohydrates: Is not used for identification of Ehrlichia spp. Furthermore, many intracellular bacteria lack enzymes for carbohydrate metabolism because of evolutionary gene reduction.
Spec. Char.:
Vector: Tick (Amblyomma variegatum and A. cajennensis).
Reservoir: Ruminants
Disease:Heartwater or cowdriosis.
Hosts: Cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminants.
Clinical Picture:
Genome Sequence:
Acc-noStrainSize (bp)Genome
NC_006831 Gardel 1 499 920  

16S rRNA Seq.:
Acc-noStrainNumber of NTOperon
X61659 Crystal Springs (Zimbabwe) isolate 1569 

Taxonomy/phylogeny:
 
Seven species have been described within the genus Ehrlichia, which is most closely related to the genus Anaplasma.
Comment:Strictly intracellular and grows in inclusions (morulae) in monocytes. Morula refers to the mulberry-like structure (Morus= mulberry in Latin) of the inclusions .
Updated:2023-03-22

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New names of bacterial phyla

The taxonomic category phylum was previously not regulated by the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), but now this has changed and it was decided to revise the names of bacterial phyla. All phyla must be written in italics (which has been done on VetBact also before) and have the ending -ota.

Published 2023-03-01. Read more...
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Published 2023-03-15. Read more...

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