Yersinia pestis
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Yersinia pestis
Yersinia pestis (formerly Pasteurella pestis) is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium that can infect humans and other animals. Its closest relative is the gastrointestinal pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, and more distantly Yersinia enterocolitica.
| Kingdom | Eubacteria |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Proteobacteria |
| Class | Gammaproteobacteria |
| Order | Enterobacteriales |
| Family | Enterobacteriaceae |
| Genus | Yersinia |
| Species | Y. pestis |
| Binomial | Yersinia pestis |
Surface Characteristics
Y. pestis has typical cell wall and whole-cell lipid compositions and an enterobacterial antigen. Its lipopolysaccharide is characterized as rough, possessing core components but lacking extended O-group side chains; while there is no true capsule, a carbohydrate-protein envelope, termed capsular antigen or fraction 1 (F1), forms during growth above 33 C (14, 32, 215). This facultative anaerobe possesses a constitutive glyoxylate bypass and unregulated L-serine deaminase expression but lacks detectable adenine deaminase, aspartase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, ornithine decarboxylase, and urease activities, as well as a possible lesion in -ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (32, 33, 125).
Transmission
Rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), the classic vector
