Woodman D R, Weiss E, Dasch G A, Bozeman F M
Infect Immun. 1977 Jun;16(3):853-60. doi: 10.1128/iai.16.3.853-860.1977.
Four strains of Rickettsia prowazekii, isolated from flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans volans) from Florida and Virginia, were compared with other strains of the typhus biotype, two previously established strains each of R. prowazekii and R. typhi and one strain of R. canada, for similarities in a number of unrelated phenotypic characteristics. R. akari served as a spotted fever biotype control. All strains produced small plaques on chicken embryo cell monolayers that were clearly recognized only after 10 days of incubation at 32 degrees C. All strains were highly susceptible to erythromycin. The Renografin density gradient centrifugation procedure of separating rickettsiae from the infected yolk sacs of surviving chicken embryos was equally satisfactory in all cases and resulted in moderate to large yields of purified rickettsiae. There was relatively small variation in specific hemolytic activity or specific CO(2) formation from glutamate. None of the strains catabolized glucose. There was some strain variation in virulence for the chicken embryo, but none of the above tests separated the three species of the typhus biotype. On the other hand, R. akari was clearly distinguished by its more rapid plaque formation and by higher resistance to erythromycin. It is concluded that by the tests conducted thus far, the biological properties of the flying squirrel strains do not differ substantially from those of other strains of the typhus biotype.
从佛罗里达州和弗吉尼亚州的小飞鼠（Glaucomys volans volans）中分离出的四株普氏立克次体，与斑疹伤寒生物型的其他菌株进行了比较，这些其他菌株包括两株先前已确定的普氏立克次体菌株、两株伤寒立克次体菌株以及一株加拿大立克次体菌株，比较它们在一些不相关表型特征方面的相似性。小蛛立克次体作为斑点热生物型对照。所有菌株在鸡胚细胞单层上形成小噬斑，只有在32℃孵育10天后才能清晰识别。所有菌株对红霉素高度敏感。从存活鸡胚的感染卵黄囊中分离立克次体的泛影葡胺密度梯度离心法在所有情况下都同样令人满意，并且能获得中等至大量的纯化立克次体。特异性溶血活性或由谷氨酸形成特异性二氧化碳的变化相对较小。没有菌株能分解葡萄糖。各菌株对鸡胚的毒力存在一些差异，但上述任何一项试验都未能区分斑疹伤寒生物型的这三个种。另一方面，小蛛立克次体通过其更快的噬斑形成和对红霉素更高的抗性而明显区分出来。得出的结论是，就目前所进行的试验而言，小飞鼠菌株的生物学特性与斑疹伤寒生物型的其他菌株没有实质性差异。
