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Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Veterinary bacteriology: information about important bacteria
Veterinary bacteriology


Species/Subspecies: Legionella pneumophila subsp. pneumophila
Categories: Motile; primarily of interest in human medicin; notifiable diseases and bacteria
Etymology: Genus name: small army.
Species epithet: lung loving.
Subspecies epithet: see Species epithet.
Significance:  [Important]   
Taxonomy:
Phylum
Proteobacteria
Class
Gammaproteobacteria
Order
Legionellales
Family
Legionellaceae 
Genus
Legionella
Type Strain: Philadelphia 1 = ATCC 33152 = CCUG 9568 = NCTC 11192.
Macromorphology (smell):
   
Greyish white mucous colonies (about 3 mm in diameter), which often forms a continuous streak.
Micromorphology: Thin rods (0,3-0,9 x 2 µm), which are motile (most common) by means of a single polar flagellum (the bacteria are monotrichous).
Gram +/Gram -:
 
G-
Metabolism: Aerobic
Catalase/Oxidase:+/(+)
Other Enzymes: Hippuricase +, urease -
Fermentation of carbohydrates: L. pneumophila does not ferment carbohydrates since it is an obligate aerobic bacterium.
Spec. Char.:
Disease:Legionellosis or Legionaires' disease
Hosts: Humans
Clinical Picture: High fever, chills, muscle aches, headaches and diarrhea.
Virulence Factors: L. pneumophila has a type IV secretion system, which can translocate about 50 different effector proteins that are important for intracellular survival of this bacterium.
Genome Sequence:
Acc-noStrainSize (bp)Genome
NC_002942 Philadelphia 1T 3 397 754 1l + 0 
Totally 4 strains have been sequenced and 0-1 circular plasmids have been found.

16S rRNA Seq.:
Acc-noStrainNumber of NTOperon
M59157 ATCC 33152T 1544 

Taxonomy/phylogeny:
 
About 60 species have been described within genus Legionella, which is related to to genus Coxiella (although not that close).
Legislation: The legionaires' disease is notifyable in Sweden.
Updated:2020-11-05

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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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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...

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