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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

An Electroporation Method to Transform Rickettsia spp. with a Fluorescent Protein-Expressing Shuttle Vector in Tick Cell Lines
Published on: October 11, 2022
Phylogenic analysis of rickettsial patatin-like protein with conserved phospholipase A2 active sites
Guillaume Blanc1, Patricia Renesto, Didier Raoult
1IGS-CNRS UPR 2589, 13385 Marseille, France.
Abstract:
Genome analysis of Rickettsia felis highlighted the presence of three patatin-like protein (PLP) genes (pat1, pat2A, and pat2B), whereas only one PLP gene (pat1) is found in the other sequenced rickettsial genomes. Here, we aligned the rickettsial PLPs with characterized patatins from plants and found that they possess all the conserved amino acid residues identified as important for phospholipase A(2) activity. We also carried out a phylogenic analysis of the rickettsial PLPs together with bacterial and eukaryotic homologs. The phylogeny of the rickettsial Pat1 proteins is in conflict with the currently recognized Rickettsia phylogeny. Possible scenarios that might explain this incongruence are discussed and involve either gene conversion or gene duplication events.
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