SPIROCHAETE

'Spirochetes' is a phylum of distinctive Gram-negative bacteria, which have long, helically coiled cells. Sherris Medical Microbiology, Ryan KJ; Ray CG (editors), , , McGraw Hill, 2004, ISBN 0838585299 Spirochetes are chemoheterotrophic in nature, with lengths between 5 and 250 µm and diameters around 0.1-0.6 µm.
Spriochetes are distinguished from other bacterial phyla by the presence of flagella, sometimes called ''axial filaments'', running lengthwise between the cell membrane and outer membrane. These cause a twisting motion which allows the spirochaete to move about.
The spirochaetes are divided into three families, all placed within a single order. Disease-causing members of this phylum include the following:

★ ''Leptospira'' species, which causes leptospirosis (also known as Weil's disease) Leptospirosis, McBride A, Athanazio D, Reis M, Ko A, , , Curr Opin Infect Dis, 2005

★ ''Borrelia burgdorferi'', which causes Lyme disease

★ ''Borrelia recurrentis'', which causes relapsing fever Ticks and Borrelia: model systems for investigating pathogen-arthropod interactions, Schwan T, , , Infect Agents Dis, 1996

★ ''Treponema pallidum'', which causes syphilis
Most spirochaetes are free-living and anaerobic, but there are numerous exceptions, including the above.
Cavalier-Smith has postulated that the Spirochaetes belong in a larger clade called Gracilicutes.^[1]

Contents

Historical

See Also

References

External links

Historical

Salvarsan, the first antibiotic in medical history, was effective against spirochaetes only and was primarily used to cure syphilis.
It has been suggested by biologist Lynn Margulis that eukaryotic flagella were derived from symbiotic spirochaetes, but few biologists accept this, as there is no close structural similarity between the two.

See Also

★ Flagellum

★ Treponema pallidum

★ Lyme disease microbiology

★ Borrelia

★ Bacteriology

★ Prokaryote

References

1. Rooting the tree of life by transition analyses, Cavalier-Smith, T., , , Biology Direct, 2006 Accessed 10 March 2006

External links

★ Indiana State University - Spirochete Pictures]