| Cross Index | Borrelia |
| SuperSet | Prokaryote, Eubacteria Spirochaetacae, |
| Compare | Borrelia,
Brachyspia
aalborgi, Cristispira pectinis, L eptonema illini, Leptospira,
Serpulina Spirochaeta, Treponema, Genera of Insect Gut Spirochetes |
| Contrast | Archaea |
| Subset |
| Morphology | Borrelia |
| CELLULAR |
| Staining | Gram negative . Stain well with Giemsa's stain. |
| Morphology | Helical cells 0.2-0.5 by
3-20 um, composed of 3-10 loose coils. The cells are surrounded by a surface layer, an outer membrane, and a cytoplasmic membrane |
| Motility | cells are actively motile with frequent reversal of the direction of translational movement |
| Specialized structures | Fifteen to 20 periplasmic flagella(which also have been termed axial fibrils, periplasmic fibrils or endoflagella) originate at each end of the cell and wind about the protoplasmic cylinder to overlap in the middle of the cell. |
| Division |
| COLONIAL |
| Solid surface |
| Liquid |
| Growth Parameters | Borrelia |
| PHYSIOLOGICAL |
| Oxygen | Species which have been grown in vitro are microaerophilic. |
| pH | |
| Temperature | |
| Requires | Nutritional requirements for in vitro growth are complex. |
| Enzymes | |
| Products | |
| Unique features |
| ENVIRONMENTAL |
| Habitat | |
| Lifestyle | |
| Pathogenicity | Pathogens of man, other mammals, and birds. The causative agents of tick-borne and louse-borne relapsing fever in man. |
| Distribution |
| Genome | Borrelia |
| G+C Mol % |
| Reference | Borrelia |
| First citation | Swellengrebel,N.H.(1907) Sur la cytologie comparee des spirochetes et des spirilles Ann Inst. Pasteur (Paris) 21: 448-466; 562-586 |
| The Prokaryotes | P |
| Bergey's Systematatic | p 57-62 R. T. Kelly |
| Bergey's Determinative | p 27 |
| References |