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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2003, p. 5456-5465, Vol. 41, No. 12
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.12.5456-5465.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Gene Sequence-Based Criteria for Identification of New Rickettsia Isolates and Description of Rickettsia heilongjiangensis sp. nov.

Pierre-Edouard Fournier,1 J. Stephen Dumler,1,2 Gilbert Greub,1 Jianzhi Zhang,3 Yimin Wu,4 and Didier Raoult1*

Unité des Rickettsies, IFR 48, CNRS UMR 6020, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France,1 Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland,2 Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas,3 Institute of Medical Science, PLA, Shenyang, People's Republic of China4

Received 27 February 2003/ Returned for modification 2 June 2003/ Accepted 12 September 2003

We propose genetic guidelines for the classification of rickettsial isolates at the genus, group, and species levels by using sequences of the 16S rRNA (rrs) gene and four protein-coding genes, the gltA, ompA, and ompB genes and gene D. To be classified as a member of the genus Rickettsia, an isolate should exhibit degrees of rrs and gltA homology with any of the 20 Rickettsia species studied of >=98.1 and >=86.5%, respectively. A member of the typhus group should fulfill at least two of the following four criteria: pairwise nucleotide sequence homologies with rrs, gltA, ompB, and gene D of either Rickettsia typhi or Rickettsia prowazekii of >=99.4, >=96.6, >=92.4, and >=91.6%, respectively. A member of the spotted fever group should either possess the ompA gene or fulfill at least two of the following four criteria: pairwise nucleotide sequence homologies with rrs, gltA, ompB, and gene D of any member of this group of >=98.8, >=92.7, >=85.8, and >=82.2%, respectively. The existence of a distinct "ancestral" group should be questioned. To be classified as a new Rickettsia species, an isolate should not exhibit more than one of the following degrees of nucleotide similarity with the most homologous validated species: >=99.8 and >= 99.9% for the rrs and gltA genes, respectively, and, when amplifiable, >=98.8, >=99.2, and >=99.3% for the ompA and ompB genes and gene D, respectively. By use of our classification scheme, "Rickettsia heilongjiangii" belongs to a new species for which we officially propose the name Rickettsia heilongjiangensis sp. nov.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité des Rickettsies, IFR 48, CNRS UMR 6020, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France. Phone: (33) 04 91 38 55 17. Fax: (33) 04 91 83 03 90. E-mail: didier.raoult{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2003, p. 5456-5465, Vol. 41, No. 12
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.12.5456-5465.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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