Rickettsia - Genomics

Genomics

Certain segments of Rickettsial genomes resemble that of mitochondria. The deciphered genome of R. prowazekii is 1,111,523 bp long and contains 834 protein-coding genes. Unlike free-living bacteria, it contains no genes for anaerobic glycolysis or genes involved in the biosynthesis and regulation of amino acids and nucleosides. In this regard it is similar to mitochondrial genomes; in both cases, nuclear (host) resources are used.

ATP production in Rickettsia is the same as that in mitochondria. In fact, of all the microbes known, the Rickettsia is probably the closest relative (in a phylogenetic sense) to the mitochondria. Unlike the latter, the genome of R. prowazekii, however, contains a complete set of genes encoding for the tricarboxylic acid cycle and the respiratory chain complex. Still, the genomes of the Rickettsia as well as the mitochondria are frequently said to be "small, highly derived products of several types of reductive evolution".

The recent discovery of another parallel between Rickettsia and viruses may become a basis for fighting HIV infection. Human immune response to the scrub typhus pathogen, Orientia tsutsugamushi rickettsia, appears to provide a beneficial effect against HIV infection progress, negatively influencing the virus replication process. A probable reason for this actively studied phenomenon is a certain degree of homology between the rickettsia and the virus – namely, common epitope(s) due to common genome fragment(s) in both pathogens. Surprisingly, the other infection reported to be likely to provide the same effect (decrease in viral load) is the virus-caused illness dengue fever.

Comparative ananlysis of genomic sequences have also identified 5 conserved signature indels in important proteins which are uniquely found in members of the genus Rickettsia. These indels consist of a 4 amino acid insertion in transcription repair coupling factor Mfd, a 10 amino acid insertion in ribosomal protein L19, a 1 amino acid insertion in FtsZ, a 1 amino acid insertion in major sigma factor 70, and a 1 amino acid deletion in exonuclease VII. These indels are all characteristic of the genus and serve as molecular markers for Rickettsia.