RT Journal
A1 Blanc, Guillaume
A1 Ogata, Hiroyuki
A1 Robert, Catherine
A1 Audic, Stéphane
A1 Claverie, Jean-Michel
A1 Raoult, Didier
T1 Lateral gene transfer between obligate intracellular bacteria: Evidence from the Rickettsia massiliae genome
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2007 
FD November 01 
VO 17 
IS 11 
SP 000 
OP 000 
DO 10.1101/gr.6742107 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2007/10/04/gr.6742107.abstract 
AB Rickettsia massiliae is a tick-borne obligate intracellular α-proteobacteria causing spotted fever in humans. Here, we present the sequence of its genome, comprising a 1.3-Mb circular chromosome and a 15.3-kb plasmid. The chromosome exhibits long-range colinearity with the other Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia genomes, except for a large fragment specific to R. massiliae that contains 14 tra genes presumably involved in pilus formation and conjugal DNA transfer. We demonstrate that the tra region was acquired recently by lateral gene transfer (LGT) from a species related to Rickettsia bellii. Further analysis of the genomic sequences identifies additional candidates of LGT between Rickettsia. Our study indicates that recent LGT between obligate intracellular Rickettsia is more common than previously thought.