"Tropheryma"
Genus of bacteria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Tropheryma whipplei" is a bacterium that is the causative organism of Whipple's disease,[2] and rarely, endocarditis.
| "Tropheryma" | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Bacillati |
| Phylum: | Actinomycetota |
| Class: | Actinomycetes |
| Order: | Micrococcales |
| Family: | "Tropherymataceae" Nouioui et al. 2018[1] |
| Genus: | "Tropheryma" La Scola et al. 2001[2] |
| Species: | "T. whipplei" |
| Binomial name | |
| "Tropheryma whipplei" La Scola et al. 2001[2] | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
| |
While "T. whipplei" is categorized with the Gram-positive Actinomycetota, the organism is commonly found to be Gram-positive or Gram-indeterminate when stained in the laboratory.[2] Whipple himself probably observed the organisms as rod-shaped structures with silver stain in his original case.[4]
History of the name
No name was given to the organism until 1991, when the name "Tropheryma whippelii" was proposed after sections of the bacterial genome were sequenced.[5][6] The name was changed to "Tropheryma whipplei" in 2001 (correcting the spelling of Whipple's name) when the organism was deposited in bacterial collections.[2]
As of 2008, the species, genus, and family name are considered to be invalid due to irregularities in the deposition of type material, and are thus styled in quotation marks.[7]
Pathogenesis
Genome structure
Several strains of "T. whipplei" have been sequenced.[8][9]
Genomes of intracellular or parasitic bacteria undergo massive reduction compared to their free-living relatives. With a genome size of less than 1 Mb, "T. whipplei" is a prime example of genome reduction among Actinomycetota. Other such examples include Mycoplasma for Bacillota (the low G+C content Gram-positive), Rickettsia for Alphaproteobacteria, and Wigglesworthia and Buchnera for Gammaproteobacteria.[8]
Some of the largest virions like Megavirus chilense, Pandoravirus, Pithovirus and Mimivirus are comparable in size to miniature bacteria like "T. whipplei" and Rickettsia conorii.