title: Is Mukherjeella caprae Bandaranayake and Neitz, 1961 (Rickettsiales) a microorganism?
abstract: Longitudinal structures in red cells in Giemsa-stained blood smears of goats in the Netherlands were in distinguishable from what has been described as Mukherjeella caprae Bandaranayake and Neitz, 1961 (Rickettsiales). Electron microscopic studies and animal experiments showed, however, that these structures are not parasitic in nature, but are fibres consisting of bundles of microfilaments embedded in the erythrocytic cytoplasm, apparently identical with the longitudinal fibres in goat erythrocytes which are considered to be a haemoglobin abnormality. The condition appears to be genetic. M caprae should be considered as a nomen dubium.
mesh_terms: D020561:Alphaproteobacteria / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D006041:Goats / Q000097:blood* / Q000382:microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity