Species/Subspecies: | Yersinia pestis | ||||||||||||
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Etymology: | Genus name: named after the French bacteriologist A.J.E. Yersin, who in 1894 first isolated the bacterium, which causes the plague. Species epithet: the plague. | ||||||||||||
Significance: | Abbout 1000 cases are reported to WHO each year. [Very important] |
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Taxonomy: | Class Gammaproteobacteria Order Enterobacterales Family Yersiniaceae Genus Yersinia |
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Type Strain: | ATCC 19428 = NCTC 5923 | ||||||||||||
Macromorphology (smell):
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Micromorphology: | Nonmotile rods | ||||||||||||
Gram +/Gram -: | G- | ||||||||||||
Metabolism: | Facultatively anaerobic | ||||||||||||
Catalase/Oxidase: | +/- | ||||||||||||
Other Enzymes: | Tryptophanase - och urease - | ||||||||||||
Biochemical Tests: | Citrate -, aesculinase -, methyl red +. | ||||||||||||
Fermentation of carbohydrates: | D-glucose + lactose - maltose V L-rhamnose - sucrose - L-arabinose + cellobiose - D-mannitol + salicin ? trehalose + glycerol V inulin ? raffinose - D-sorbitol - starch ? |
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Spec. Char.: | |||||||||||||
Vector: | Flea | ||||||||||||
Reservoir: | Different species of rodents. | ||||||||||||
Disease: |
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Virulence Factors: | The so-called pgm-locus, with a size of 102 kb and which is flanked by 2 IS100-elements. The pgm-locus contains several virulence genes, one of which makes it possible for the bacterium to take up and store hemin. This gene makes it also possible for the bacterium to take up the stain Congo red, which can be utilized for differentiation of virulent and nonvirulent strains (see image under Macromorphologi). | ||||||||||||
Genome Sequence: |
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16S rRNA Seq.: |
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Taxonomy/phylogeny:
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Within the genus Yersinia, 20 species have been described. All species belong to the family Enterobacteriaceae. | ||||||||||||
Legislation: | Yersinia pestis belongs to category A, as a possible biological warfare agent according to NIAID. | ||||||||||||
Reference(s): | No. 174 | ||||||||||||
Updated: | 2022-04-13 |
News |
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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... |
The taxonomy of chlamydias Species within the family Chlamydiaceae were previously divided into two genera Chlamydia and Chlamydophila. However, the differences between these two genera were not that great and many research groups have not accepted this division. Therefore, the genus Chlamydophila has been returned to the genus Chlamydia and this change has now been incorporated in VetBact Published 2023-03-15. Read more... |