title: Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis: subversive manipulators of host cells.
abstract: Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. cause several emerging human infectious diseases. Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis are transmitted between mammals by blood-sucking ticks and replicate inside mammalian white blood cells and tick salivary-gland and midgut cells. Adaptation to a life in eukaryotic cells and transmission between hosts has been assisted by the deletion of many genes that are present in the genomes of free-living bacteria (including genes required for the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide and peptidoglycan), by the acquisition of a cholesterol uptake pathway and by the expansion of the repertoire of genes encoding the outer-membrane porins and type IV secretion system. Here, I review the specialized properties and other adaptations of these intracellular bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, 1925 Coffey Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. rikihisa.1@osu.edu
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rikihisa
mesh_terms: D041081:Anaplasma phagocytophilum / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001343:Autophagy; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D018469:Ehrlichia chaffeensis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D016873:Ehrlichiosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002784:Cholesterol