Cross Index	Leptospira
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

Leptospira

CELLULAR

Staining	Gram-negative; appear faintly stained with aniline dyes. Unstained cells are not visible by bright-field microscopy but are visible by darkfield illumination and phase-contrast microscopy
Morphology	Flexible helicoidal rods, 0.1 um in diameter and 6 to over 12 um in length.
Motility	motile by periplasmic flagella
Specialized structures	Periplasmic Flagella Resting stages not known

Division

COLONIAL

Solid surface

clear surface colonies on 2% agar; some strains form both subsurface and surface colonies on Generation time, 6-16 h. Diffuse-to-discrete subsurface colonies are formed in 1% agar and turbid-to-1% or 2% agar

Liquid

 

Growth Parameters

Leptospira

PHYSIOLOGICAL

Oxygen	Obligately aerobic, having a respiratory type of metabolism with oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor.
pH
Temperature	28-30`C.
Requires	Chemoorganotrophic, using fatty acids or fatty alcohols (15 carbons or more) as energy and carbon sources
Produces	Oxidase-positive. Catalase- and/or peroxidase-positive..
Products
Unique features

ENVIRONMENTAL

Habitat	some strains are free living in soil, freshwater or marine habitats
Lifestyle
Pathogenicity	Some strains are parasitic and may be pathogenic for man and animals,

Distribution

 

Genome

Leptospira

G+C Mol %

35-41% (Tm) with the exception of one strain which is 53%

 

Reference

Leptospira

First citation	Noguchi,H.(1917) Spirochaeta icterohaemoohagiae in American wild rats and its relation to the Japanese and European Strains. J. Exp. Med 25:755-763
Previous names
The Prokaryotes	P
Bergey's Systematatic	p 62 R.C. Johnson and S. Faine
Bergey's Determinative	p 29

References