Tropherymataceae La Scola et al., 2001
- Dataset
- English Wikipedia - Species Pages
Classification
Abstract
DISPLAYTITLE
"Tropheryma whipplei", is a bacterium and the causative organism of Whipple's disease, and rarely, endocarditis. 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. Whipple himself probably observed the organisms as rod-shaped structures with silver stain in his original case.
"Tropheryma whipplei", is a bacterium and the causative organism of Whipple's disease, and rarely, endocarditis. 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. Whipple himself probably observed the organisms as rod-shaped structures with silver stain in his original case.
Genome structure
Several strains of "T. whipplei" have been sequenced. 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. Some of the largest virions like Megavirus chilensis, Pandoravirus, Pithovirus and mimivirus are comparable in size to miniature bacteria like T. whipplei and Rickettsia conorii.
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.From Greek τροφή trophê, "nourishment, food" and ἔρυμα eruma, "fence, a defence against, barrier". The name was changed to Tropheryma whipplei in 2001 (correcting the spelling of Whipple's name) when the organism was deposited in bacterial collections.
Name
- Synonyms
- Tropheryma whippelii Relman et al. 1992
- Homonyms
- Tropherymataceae La Scola et al., 2001
- Common names
- Tropheryma in Inglés