| Torix | |
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| T. cotylifer. The scale bar is equal to 1 millimetre (0.039 in) | |
| Scientific classification | |
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| Genus: | Torix Blanchard, 1893 |
| Type species | |
| Torix mirus Blanchard, 1893 | |
| Species | |
disputed, see text | |
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Torix is a genus of Rhynchobdellid leeches in the family Glossiphoniidae, found in Eastern Asia and Japan. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Rana japonica, the Japanese brown frog, is the main host of T. tagoi. [8]
Two members of the genus, T. tagoi and T. tukubana, show high percentages of Rickettsia infection in the wild; 96% and 83% respectively, according to a 2003 study. [8] Eggs of T. tagoi were found to all contain the bacteria, indicating the bacteria is almost always passed on to the next generation (vertical transmission). [8] It was found that infected leeches grew far larger than those uninfected with the bacteria. [8] Another paper concluded that the Rickettsia that acted as endosymbionts in the leeches represented a separate clade of Rickettsia, named the torix clade. [9] [10] As T. tagoi feeds on the blood of amphibians such as frogs and newts, it is possible that those amphibians were the route of horizontal transmission. [9]
The number of species the genus contains is somewhat disputed between taxonomic databases and scientific papers.
Torix baicalensis was moved to the genus Glossiphonia. [12]
An endosymbiont or endobiont is an organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism. Typically the two organisms are in a mutualistic relationship. Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which live in the root nodules of legumes, single-cell algae inside reef-building corals, and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to insects.
Enterobacteriaceae is a large family of Gram-negative bacteria. It includes over 30 genera and more than 100 species. Its classification above the level of family is still a subject of debate, but one classification places it in the order Enterobacterales of the class Gammaproteobacteria in the phylum Pseudomonadota. In 2016, the description and members of this family were emended based on comparative genomic analyses by Adeolu et al.
Rickettsia is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci, bacilli, or threads. The genus was named after Howard Taylor Ricketts in honor of his pioneering work on tick-borne spotted fever.
Trypanosomatida is a group of kinetoplastid unicellular organisms distinguished by having only a single flagellum. The name is derived from the Greek trypano (borer) and soma (body) because of the corkscrew-like motion of some trypanosomatid species. All members are exclusively parasitic, found primarily in insects. A few genera have life-cycles involving a secondary host, which may be a vertebrate, invertebrate or plant. These include several species that cause major diseases in humans. Some trypanosomatida are intracellular parasites, with the important exception of Trypanosoma brucei.
Verrucomicrobiota is a phylum of Gram-negative bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from fresh water, marine and soil environments and human faeces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive ectosymbionts of protists and endosymbionts of nematodes from genus Xiphinema, residing in their gametes. The verrucomicrobial bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is a human intestinal symbiotic bacterium that is considered as a promising probiotic.
The Chlamydiota are a bacterial phylum and class whose members are remarkably diverse, including pathogens of humans and animals, symbionts of ubiquitous protozoa, and marine sediment forms not yet well understood. All of the Chlamydiota that humans have known about for many decades are obligate intracellular bacteria; in 2020 many additional Chlamydiota were discovered in ocean-floor environments, and it is not yet known whether they all have hosts. Historically it was believed that all Chlamydiota had a peptidoglycan-free cell wall, but studies in the 2010s demonstrated a detectable presence of peptidoglycan, as well as other important proteins.
Francisella is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria. They are small coccobacillary or rod-shaped, nonmotile organisms, which are also facultative intracellular parasites of macrophages. Strict aerobes, Francisella colonies bear a morphological resemblance to those of the genus Brucella. Some Francisella species are pathogenic bacteria but some others are endosymbionts of ticks. Ticks do not use any other food source than vertebrate blood and therefore ingest high levels of protein, iron and salt, but few vitamins. To overcome these nutritional deficiencies, ticks have evolved obligate interactions with nutritional endosymbionts, including Francisella endosymbionts. Their experimental elimination typically results in decreased tick survival, molting, fecundity and egg viability, as well as in physical abnormalities, which all are fully restored with an oral supplement of B vitamins. The genome sequencing of Francisella endosymbionts confirmed that they consistently produce three B vitamin types, biotin (vitamin B7), riboflavin (B2) and folate (B9). Francisella endosymbionts are often misidentified as Francisella tularensis; however, Francisella endosymbionts lack virulence genes and cannot infect humans.
Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single complete genome. It is typically measured in terms of mass in picograms or less frequently in daltons, or as the total number of nucleotide base pairs, usually in megabases. One picogram is equal to 978 megabases. In diploid organisms, genome size is often used interchangeably with the term C-value.
Rhynchobdellida, the jawless leeches or freshwater leeches, are an order of aquatic leeches. Despite the common name "freshwater leeches", species are found in both sea and fresh water. They are defined by the presence of a protrusible proboscis instead of jaws, and having colourless blood. They move by "inchworming" and are found worldwide. The order contains 110 species, divided into 41 genera and three families. Members of the order range widely in length, usually between 7 and 40 mm. They are hermaphrodite. The order is not monophyletic.
Parachlamydiaceae is a family of bacteria in the order Chlamydiales. Species in this family have a Chlamydia–like cycle of replication and their ribosomal RNA genes are 80–90% identical to ribosomal genes in the Chlamydiaceae. The Parachlamydiaceae naturally infect amoebae and can be grown in cultured Vero cells. The Parachlamydiaceae are not recognized by monoclonal antibodies that detect Chlamydiaceae lipopolysaccharide.
Alphaproteobacteria is a class of bacteria in the phylum Pseudomonadota. The Magnetococcales and Mariprofundales are considered basal or sister to the Alphaproteobacteria. The Alphaproteobacteria are highly diverse and possess few commonalities, but nevertheless share a common ancestor. Like all Proteobacteria, its members are gram-negative, although some of its intracellular parasitic members lack peptidoglycan and are consequently gram variable.
Gammaproteobacteria is a class of bacteria in the phylum Pseudomonadota. It contains about 250 genera, which makes it the most genus-rich taxon of the Prokaryotes. Several medically, ecologically, and scientifically important groups of bacteria belong to this class. All members of this class are Gram-negative. It is the most phylogenetically and physiologically diverse class of the Pseudomonadota.
Glossiphoniidae are a family of freshwater proboscis-bearing leeches. These leeches are generally flattened, and have a poorly defined anterior sucker. Most suck the blood of freshwater vertebrates like amphibians, crocodilians and aquatic turtles, but some feed on invertebrates like oligochaetes and freshwater snails instead. Although they prefer other hosts, blood-feeding species will opportunistically feed from humans.
Asthena is a genus of moths in the family Geometridae.
Pyrenomonas is a genus of cryptomonad.
The Erpobdelliformes are one of the currently-accepted suborders of the proboscisless leeches (Arhynchobdellida). It includes five families:
Sodalis is a genus of bacteria within the family Pectobacteriaceae. This genus contains several insect endosymbionts and also a free-living group. It is studied due to its potential use in the biological control of the tsetse fly. Sodalis is an important model for evolutionary biologists because of its nascent endosymbiosis with insects.
Chloroflexales is an order of bacteria in the class Chloroflexia. The clade is also known as filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (FAP), as the order contains phototrophs that do not produce oxygen. These bacteria are facultative aerobic. They generally use chemotrophy when oxygen is present and switch to light-derived energy when otherwise. Most species are heterotrophs, but a few are capable of photoautotrophy.
Vertical transmission of symbionts is the transfer of a microbial symbiont from the parent directly to the offspring. Many metazoan species carry symbiotic bacteria which play a mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic role. A symbiont is acquired by a host via horizontal, vertical, or mixed transmission.
Eurydema dominulus, also known by its common name painted bug, is a cabbage bug from the genus Eurydema. The species was first described in 1763.
[This genus has 7 species (T. mirus Blanchard，1893- T. baicalensis Schegolev, 1922- T. cotylifer Blanchard, 1898- T. orientalis (Oka, 1925) ・ T. tagoi (Oka, 1925) - T. tukubana (Oka, 1935) ・ T. novazealandiae (Dendy and Olliver, 1925). (Sawyer, 1986).]
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