How many genes does Yersinia pestis have?
The genome contains around 150 pseudogenes, many of which are remnants of a redundant enteropathogenic lifestyle. The evidence of ongoing genome fluidity, expansion and decay suggests Y.
Which anthropologist reconstructed the genome of Black Death?
Geneticists Hendrik Poinar and Kirsten Bos of McMaster University and Johannes Krause and Verena Schuenemann of the University of Tubingen collaborated with Brian Golding and David Earn of McMaster University, Hernán A.
Is Yersinia pestis harmful or helpful?
As Yersinia pestis can be easily obtained and cultured and is highly pathogenic for humans, it poses a serious threat of being used for bioterrorism purposes. Artificially created aerosol containing plague bacilli can cause numerous and almost simultaneous cases of primary pulmonic plague in an exposed population.
Does Yersinia pestis have cilia?
The cell structures that provide the ability for locomotion are the cilia and flagella. Coliform and Streptococci are examples of non-motile bacteria as are Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Yersinia pestis.
Is pneumonic plague pneumonia?
With pneumonic plague, the first signs of illness are fever, headache, weakness, and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and sometimes bloody or watery sputum. The pneumonia progresses for 2 to 4 days and may cause respiratory failure and shock.
Does Yersinia pestis produce toxins?
Yersinia pestis carries homologues of the toxin complex (Tc) family proteins, which were first identified in other Gram-negative bacteria as having potent insecticidal activity.
How does Yersinia pestis move?
When the bacteria is in a host, it is nonmotile (incapable of self-propelled movement), but when isolated it is motile (1). Y. pestis uses aerobic respiration and anaerobic fermentation to produce and consume hydrogen gas for energy.
How does Yersinia pestis reproduce?
Yersinia pestis is an obligate parasite, meaning that it cannot reproduce without a host. Rodents are the primary hosts of the bacteria, which is spread through fleas. When a flea feeds on an infected rodent, such as a rat, it swallows Y. pestis.
Is Yersinia pestis a pandemic?
The first historically documented pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis began as the Justinianic Plague in 541 within the Roman Empire and continued as the so-called First Pandemic until 750.
What is the difference between bubonic pneumonic and septicemic plague?
The difference between the forms of plague is the location of infection; in pneumonic plague the infection is in the lungs, in bubonic plague the lymph nodes, and in septicemic plague within the blood. Diagnosis is by testing the blood, sputum, or fluid from a lymph node.
