Leptospira

Leptospira
Scanning electron micrograph of Leptospira interrogans
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Spirochaetota
Class:	Spirochaetia
Order:	Leptospirales
Family:	Leptospiraceae
Genus:	Leptospira Noguchi 1917 non Swainson 1840 non Boucot, Johnson & Staton 1964
Type species
Leptospira interrogans (Stimson 1907) Wenyon 1926
Species
See text

Leptospira (from

Leptospira, together with the genera Leptonema and Turneria, is a member of the family Leptospiraceae. The genus Leptospira is divided into 20 species based on DNA hybridization studies.^[4][5]

Pathogenic Leptospira

Leptospira alstonii Smythe et al. 2013 ["Leptospira alstoni" Haake et al. 1993]

Leptospira interrogans (Stimson 1907) Wenyon 1926 emend. Faine and Stallman 1982 ["Spirochaeta interrogans" Stimson 1907; "Spirochaeta nodosa" Hubener & Reiter 1916; "Spirochaeta icterohaemorrhagiae" Inada et al. 1916; "Spirochaeta icterogenes" Uhlenhuth & Fromme 1916; "Leptospira icteroides" Noguchi 1919]

Leptospira kirschneri Ramadass et al. 1992

Leptospira noguchii Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira alexanderi Brenner et al. 1999

Leptospira weilii Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira borgpetersenii Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira santarosai Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira kmetyi Slack et al. 2009^[6]

Leptospira mayottensis Bourhy et al. 2014

Intermediates or opportunistic Leptospira

Leptospira inadai Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira fainei Perolat et al. 1998

Leptospira broomii Levett et al. 2006^[7]

Leptospira licerasiae Matthias et al. 2009^[8]

Leptospira wolffii Slack et al. 2008^[9]

Non-pathogenic Leptospira

Leptospira biflexa (Wolbach and Binger 1914) Noguchi 1918 emend. Faine and Stallman 1982 ["Spirochaeta biflexa" Wolbach & Binger 1914]

Leptospira idonii Saito et al. 2013

Leptospira meyeri Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira wolbachii Yasuda et al. 1987

Leptospira vanthielii Smythe et al. 2013

Leptospira terpstrae Smythe et al. 2013

Leptospira yanagawae Smythe et al. 2013

Members of Leptospira are also grouped into

At its 2002 meeting, the Committee on the Taxonomy of Leptospira of the International Union of Microbiological Societies approved the following nomenclature for serovars of Leptospira. Genus and species names are italicized as usual, with the serovar name not italicized and with an upper case first letter.

Genus species serovar Serovar_name

For example:

• Leptospira interrogans serovar Australis
• Leptospira biflexa serovar Patoc

Phylogeny

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)^[10] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).^[11]

Species incertae sedis:

• "L. andamana" Tripathy, Evans & Hanson 1971 non Collier 1948
• "L. brihuegai" Grune Loffler et al. 2015
• "L. hardjobovis" Srinivas, Walker & Rippke 2013
• "L. macculloughii" Thibeaux et al. 2018
• L. sanjuanensis Fernandes et al. 2022

Morphology

Although over 200 serotypes oLeptospira have been described, all members of the genus have similar morphology. Leptospira are spiral-shaped bacteria that are 6-20 μm long and 0.1 μm in diameter with a wavelength of about 0.5 μm.

The bacteria have a number of degrees of freedom; when ready to proliferate via

Cellular structure

Leptospira have a

Leptospira are cultivated at 30 °C in Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris (EMJH) medium, which can be supplemented with 0.21% rabbit serum to enhance growth of fastidious strains.[30] Growth of pathogenic Leptospira in an artificial nutrient environment such as EMJH becomes noticeable in 4–7 days; growth of saprophytic strains occur within 2–3 days. The minimal growth temperature of pathogenic species is 13–15 °C. Because the minimal growth temperature of the saprophytes is 5–10 °C, the ability of Leptospira to grow at 13 °C can be used to distinguish saprophytic from pathogenic Leptospira species.^[30] The optimal pH for growth of Leptospira is 7.2–7.6.

Leptospira are aerobes whose major carbon and energy source during in vitro growth is long-chain fatty acids, which are metabolized by beta-oxidation.^[31][32] Fatty acids are provided in EMJH in the form of Tween.^[30] Fatty acid molecules are bound by albumin in EMJH and are released slowly into the medium to prevent its toxic accumulation.

Like most bacteria, Leptospira require iron for growth.

• Leptospirosis
• List of bacteria genera
• List of bacterial orders

References