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Ultrastructure and phylogenetic analysis of ‘Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis' in the family Anaplasmataceae, isolated from wild rats and found in Ixodes ovatus ticks

¹ Nagoya City Public Health Research Institute, Hagiyama-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8615, Japan
² Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
³ Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Tobetu-cho, Ishikari-gun, Hokkaido, 061-0293, Japan
⁴ Kawagoe Sogo Senior High School, Kosenba-machi, Kawagoe, 350-0036, Japan
⁵ Department of Anaesthesiology, Saitama Medical School, Moroyama-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama, 350-0451, Japan
⁶ University of Nagoya, Tsurumai-cho, Shouwa-ku, Naogaya, 466-8550, Japan
⁷ Rakunou Gakuen University, Bunkyoudai-midori-machi, Ebetu, Hokkaido, 069-8501, Japan

Correspondence
Yasuko Rikihisa
rikihisa.1{at}osu.edu

A novel bacterium that infects laboratory rats was isolated from wild Rattus norvegicus rats in Japan. Transmission electron microscopy of the spleen tissue revealed small cocci surrounded by an inner membrane and a thin, rippled outer membrane in a membrane-bound inclusion within the cytoplasm of endothelial cells. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence of the bacterium found in R. norvegicus rats and Ixodes ovatus ticks in Japan revealed that the organism represents a novel clade in the family Anaplasmataceae, which includes the Schotti variant found in Ixodes ricinus ticks in the Netherlands and the Ehrlichia-like Rattus strain found in R. norvegicus rats from China. The novel clade was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of groESL sequences found in R. norvegicus rats and Ixodes ovatus ticks in Japan. No serological cross-reactivity was detected between this bacterium and members of the genera Anaplasma, Ehrlichia or Neorickettsia in the family Anaplasmataceae. It is proposed that this new cluster of bacteria should be designated ‘Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis’.

The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession numbers for the 16S rRNA and groESL gene sequences of ‘Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis' determined in this study are respectively AB084582 and AB084583 for strain TK4456^R from a wild rat and AB074460 and AB074461 for strain IS58 from I. ovatus ticks.

Detailed primer sequences and phylogenetic tables are available as supplementary material in IJSEM Online.

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