Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 8, 2025

An Electroporation Method to Transform Rickettsia spp. with a Fluorescent Protein-Expressing Shuttle Vector in Tick Cell Lines
Published on: October 11, 2022
Is vertical transmission the only pathway for Rickettsia felis?
Pablo Colunga-Salas1, Sokani Sánchez-Montes2, Marco Torres-Castro3
1Instituto de Biotecnología y Ecología Aplicada, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
Abstract:
The genus Rickettsia encompasses several species grouped into two main clusters, Typhus and the Transitional groups. The latter group contains Rickettsia felis, an endosymbiont of several arthropods with an uncertain human pathogenicity and whose most efficient transmission mechanism described thus far is transovarial. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether this pathway exists using phylogenetic analysis and partial sequences of the 17kDa and gltA genes and comparing them with host phylogeny using the cytb region. This is the first study that evaluates the vertical transmission of R. felis. In general, both phylogenies of R. felis showed no polytomies, as suspected if this pathway was the only pathway occurring. When phylogenies of the invertebrates and the gltA of R. felis were compared for strong coevolutionary insight, intricate relationships were observed, suggesting that other transmission pathways must occur, such as horizontal transmission. Further studies are needed to determine which other transmission routes occur in hematophagous arthropods.
Related Concept Videos
Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria
Infection
The chain begins with pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions, or parasites such as protozoa helminths. These can be present on the skin as transient or resident flora, or they can be acquired from the environment. Identifying and treating the type of infection and...
Bacterial Phylum Chlamydiae
Bacterial Phylum Spirochaetes
Symbiosis

