Abstract
Rickettsiae are obligate, intracellular, very small (0.3 × 1–2 μm), Gram-negative bacilli that multiply within the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. They have a very small genome composed of 1–1.5 million base pairs. Because of their small size, these organisms were once thought to be viruses. Nevertheless, these organisms are bacteria because they (1) have typical Gram-negative cell walls, (2) contain both DNA and RNA enzymes for the Kreb cycle and ribosomes for protein synthesis, (3) multiply by binary fission and (4) are susceptible to antibiotics.
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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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Parija, S.C. (2023). Rickettsia, Orientia, Ehrlichia and Coxiella. In: Textbook of Microbiology and Immunology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3315-8_44
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3315-8_44
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