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Ehrlichia

Proteobacteria

Alphaproteobacteria

Rickettsiales

  1. J. Stephen Dumler1,
  2. Yasuko Rikihisa2,
  3. Gregory A. Dasch3

Published Online: 14 SEP 2015

DOI: 10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00904

Book Title

Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria

Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria

Additional Information

How to Cite

Stephen Dumler, J., Rikihisa, Y. and Dasch, G. A. 2015. Ehrlichia. Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. 1–11.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Univ. School of Medicine, Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Baltimore, MD, USA

  2. 2

    The Ohio State University, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Columbus, OH, USA

  3. 3

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, GA, USA

  1. †

    Moshkovski §, 18AL emend. Dumler, Barbet, Bekker, Dasch, Palmer, Ray, Rikihisa and Rurangirwa , 2157

  2. ‡

    Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in association with Bergey's Manual Trust.

Publication History

  1. Published Online: 14 SEP 2015
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Abstract

Ehr.lich' i.a. M.L. fem. n. Ehrlichia named after Paul Ehrlich, a German bacteriologist.

Proteobacteria / Alphaproteobacteria / Rickettsiales / Anaplasmataceae / Ehrlichia

Coccoid to ellipsoidal cells. Found in cytoplasmic vacuoles in endothelial or hemopoietic mammalian host cells, including macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, and cells of the bone marrow, liver, spleen, or lymph nodes. Often occur in clusters (morulae). Pleomorphic; occur as reticulate cells and “dense core forms” with condensed cytoplasm (Popov et al., 1998). Gram negative. Nonmotile. Some species grow in cultured tick cells or in cultured mammalian monocytes, macrophages, or endothelial cells. Cause disease in ruminants, canids, rodents, and humans. Ticks are the primary vectors and hosts. Belong to the Alphaproteobacteria by 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis; the organisms exhibit ≥97.6% 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with one another. Where studied, these bacteria possess surface protein antigen genes that are tandemly arranged in the chromosome and have a high degree of sequence similarity (Ohashi et al., 1998a, b; Reddy et al., 1998; McBride et al., 2000; Yu et al., 2000a).

The mol% G + C of the DNA is: 30–56.

Type species: Ehrlichia canis (Donatien and Lestoquard 1935) Moshkovski 1945, 18 (Rickettsia canis Donatien and Lestoquard 1935, 419) emend. Dumler, Barbet, Bekker, Dasch, Palmer, Ray, Rikihisa and Rurangirwa 2001, 2159.

Keywords:

  • Ehrlichia;
  • Ehrlichia canis;
  • Anaplasmataceae
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