Orientia tsutsugamushi str. Boryong

Orientia_tsutsugamushi
Names Orientia tsutsugamushi str. Boryong
Accession numbers NC_009488
Background Orientia tsutsugamushi (previously called Rickettsia tsutsugamushi) is an obligate intracellular rickettsia living in the salivary glands of trombiculid mites. The bacterium is maternally inherited in mites and is transmitted to humans during larval feeding. Orientia tsutsugamushi is the causative agent of scrub typhus, a disease characterized by fever, rash, eschar, pneumonitis meningitis and disseminated intravascular coagulation. If left untreated, it can lead to sever multiple organ failure. The mortality rate from scrub typhus in untreated patients ranges from 1% to 40%. During World War II, Allied forces suffered more fatalities due to this disease than as a direct consequence of the fighting in South-East Asia. Scrub typhus is restricted to a well-defined area that extends from Eastern Russia and Northern Japan in the north and Northern Australia in the south to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the west. Orientia tsutsugamushi (strain Boryong) was isolated from a Korean patient. Its genome is made up of a single circular chromosome of 2,127,051 base pairs and is the largest among the genomes of Rickettsiales sequenced to date. A unique feature of Orientia tsutsugamushi is the presence of 4197 identical repeats of more than 200 bp, which represents 37% of the genome. In total, 1146 mobile genetic elements, representing 40% of the genome, were identified. Exceptional is also the presence of 359 tra genes for conjugative Type IV Secretion Systems compared to the 4 tra genes of R. felis and to the unique tra gene of R. bellii. Located within or in the immediate vicinity of the tra clusters are more than 200 genes encoding paralogous proteins putatively involved signaling and host-cell interaction processes. 414 transposases were identified, that belong to 5 families, approximately 86% of which are pseudogenes. (HAMAP: ORITB)
Taxonomy
Kingdom:Bacteria
Phylum:Proteobacteria
Class:Alphaproteobacteria
Order:Rickettsiales
Family:Rickettsiaceae
Genus:Orientia
Species:tsutsugamushi
Strain Boryong
Complete Yes
Sequencing centre (04-JUN-2007) National Center for Biotechnology Information, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
(21-FEB-2007) Cho N.H., Department of Microbiology and Immunolgy, Seoul National University Coll. Med., 28 Yongon-Dong
Sequencing quality Level 6: Finished
Sequencing depth NA
Sequencing method Sanger
Isolation site patient in Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Isolation country Japan
Number of replicons 1
Gram staining properties Negative
Shape Bacilli
Mobility Yes
Flagellar presence No
Number of membranes 2
Oxygen requirements Aerobic
Optimal temperature NA
Temperature range Mesophilic
Habitat HostAssociated
Biotic relationship Free living
Host name Homo sapiens
Cell arrangement NA
Sporulation NA
Metabolism NA
Energy source NA
Diseases Scrub typhus
Pathogenicity Yes