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Spirochaetes is a phylum of distinctive Gram-negative
Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
 bacteria, which have long, helically
Helix

A helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a Differentiable manifold curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring ....
 coiled cells. Spirochetes are chemoheterotrophic in nature, with lengths between 5 and 250 µm and diameters around 0.1-0.6 µm.

Spirochaetes are distinguished from other bacterial phyla by the location of their flagella
Flagellum

A flagellum is a tail-like structure that projects from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and it functions in locomotion....
, sometimes called axial filaments, which run lengthwise between the cell membrane
Cell membrane

The cell membrane is the interface between the cellular machinery inside the cell and the fluid outside.It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer found in all cell ....
 and outer membrane.






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Spirochaetes is a phylum of distinctive Gram-negative
Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
 bacteria, which have long, helically
Helix

A helix is a special kind of space curve, i.e. a Differentiable manifold curve in three-space. As a mental image of a helix one may take the spring ....
 coiled cells. Spirochetes are chemoheterotrophic in nature, with lengths between 5 and 250 µm and diameters around 0.1-0.6 µm.

Spirochaetes are distinguished from other bacterial phyla by the location of their flagella
Flagellum

A flagellum is a tail-like structure that projects from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and it functions in locomotion....
, sometimes called axial filaments, which run lengthwise between the cell membrane
Cell membrane

The cell membrane is the interface between the cellular machinery inside the cell and the fluid outside.It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer found in all cell ....
 and outer membrane. These cause a twisting motion which allows the spirochaete to move about. When reproducing, a spirochaete will undergo asexual transverse binary fission
Binary fission

Binary fission is the form of asexual reproduction and cell division used by prokaryotic and some eukaryotic organisms . This process results in the reproduction of a living prokaryotic cell by division into two parts which each have the potential to grow to the size of the original cell....
.

Most spirochaetes are free-living and anaerobic
Anaerobic organism

An anaerobic organism is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth and may even die in its presence....
, but there are numerous exceptions.

Classification

The spirochaetes are divided into three families (Brachyspiraceae, Leptospiraceae, and Spirochaetaceae
Spirochaetaceae

Spirochaetaceae is a family of spirochetes most notable for the genus that causes Lyme disease and relapsing fever....
), all placed within a single order (Spirochaetales). Disease-causing members of this phylum include the following:

  • Leptospira
    Leptospira

    Leptospira is a genus of spirochaete bacteria, including a small number of pathogenic and saprophytic species. Leptospira was first observed in 1907 in kidney tissue slices of a leptospirosis victim who was described as having died of "yellow fever."...
     species, which causes leptospirosis
    Leptospirosis

    Leptospirosis is a infectious disease zoonotic disease caused by spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira that affects humans and a wide range of animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles....
  • Borrelia burgdorferi
    Borrelia burgdorferi

    Borrelia burgdorferi is species of bacteria of the Spirochaete class of the genus Borrelia. B. burgdorferi is predominant in North America, but also exists in Europe, and is the agent of Lyme disease....
    , which causes Lyme disease
    Lyme disease

    Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia....
  • Borrelia recurrentis
    Borrelia recurrentis

    Borrelia recurrentis is a species of Borrelia.It can be associated with relapsing fever.It is notable for its unusual ability to alter the proteins expressed on its surface....
    , which causes relapsing fever
    Relapsing fever

    Relapsing fever is an infection caused by certain bacteria in the genus Borrelia. It is a vector that is transmitted through louse or soft-bodied tick bites....
  • Treponema pallidum
    Treponema pallidum

    Treponema pallidum is a gram-negative spirochaete bacterium....
    , which causes syphilis
    Syphilis

    Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always through sexual contact, although there are examples of congenital syphilis via transmission from mother to child in utero....
  • Treponema pertenue, which causes yaws
    Yaws

    Yaws also P?tasse tropica, thymosis, polypapilloma tropicum, pian or parangi) is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue....


Cavalier-Smith has postulated that the Spirochaetes belong in a larger clade
Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
 called Gracilicutes
Gracilicutes

Gracilicutes is a taxon created by Cavalier-Smith, which he believes to be a clade comprising the Proteobacteria, the Planctobacteria , the Sphingobacteria , and Spirochaetes....
.

Historical

Salvarsan, the first antibiotic
Antibiotic

In common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics belong to the group of antimicrobial compounds used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungus and protozoa....
 in medical history, was effective against spirochaetes only and was primarily used to cure syphilis
Syphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always through sexual contact, although there are examples of congenital syphilis via transmission from mother to child in utero....
.

It has been suggested by biologist Lynn Margulis
Lynn Margulis

Lynn Margulis is an United States biologist and University Professor in the Earth science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is best known for her theory on the origin of eukaryote organelles, and her contributions to the endosymbiotic theory?which is now generally accepted for how certain Mitochondrion were formed....
 that eukaryotic
Eukaryote

Animals, plants, fungus, and protists are eukaryotes , organisms whose Cell are organized into complex structures enclosed within Cell membrane....
 flagella were derived
Evolution of flagella

The evolution of flagella is of great interest to biologists because the three known varieties of flagella each represent an extremely sophisticated cellular structure that requires the interaction of many different finely-tuned systems....
 from symbiotic spirochaetes, but few biologists accept this, as there is no close structural similarity between the two.

See also

  • Flagellum
    Flagellum

    A flagellum is a tail-like structure that projects from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and it functions in locomotion....
  • Treponema pallidum
    Treponema pallidum

    Treponema pallidum is a gram-negative spirochaete bacterium....
  • Lyme disease microbiology
    Lyme disease microbiology

    Lyme disease, or borreliosis, is caused by Gram negative spirochetal bacteria from the genus Borrelia, which has at least 37 known species, 12 of which are Lyme related, and an unknown number of genomic strain ....
  • Borrelia
    Borrelia

    Borrelia is a genus of bacteria of the spirochete phylum. It causes borreliosis, a zoonotic, vector transmitted primarily by ticks and some by lice, depending on the species....
  • Bacteriology
  • Prokaryote
    Prokaryote

    The prokaryotes are a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus , or any other cell membrane-bound organelles. They differ from the eukaryotes, which have a cell nucleus....


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