Mycobacterium leprae
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| Mycobacterium leprae | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||
| Mycobacterium leprae |
Description and significance
This M.leprae causes the disease leprosy. It's also called the Hansen's disease after the scientist that discovered the bacteria in the skin nodules of leprosy patient. For a long time this disease was seen as a curse , an hieredietery disease and its patients used to be stimatized.
Genome structure
Mycobactrium M.leprae has about 3,268,203 base pairs. Only 49% of the genome encode for proteins. The rest is composed of pseudogenes. In size and shape M.leprae resemble the M. tuberculosis.
Cell structure and metabolism
It’s a gram positive ,aerobic rod-shaped acid fast. Scientists believe that the pseudogenes used to be involed in metabolic patways but now this bacteria lost its metabolic capability. Because of this lost the M.leprae is now an obligate parasite that depends on its host for most of its nutritional and functional needs. They have a waxy coating which is caused by the mycolic acid. That coating is unique to mycobacterium. The mycolic acid is composed of large lipids that are covalently bonded to each other to form the waxy coating. It's solid at room temperature. That's one of the causing why this bacteia is so hard to fight and destroyed.
Ecology
This bacteria is believed to live in the soil. Scientists think that the reservoir for this bacteria is the new world armadillos and African primates. At the beginning the idea that the habitat of this bacteria was in soil was just an hypothesis but some research were done and DNA of the m.leeprae was found in soil close to where peope were infected with leprosy. Its ideal temperature is about 30-330 C.
Pathology
The transmission of this disease is not fully understood yet , but it's likely to spread through the air from coughing and sneezing.It attacks the nervous system and skin lesios are formed on the patient in the early stage. It leads to paralysis and loss of extremeties. One its virulence factor is the formation of mycolic acid that formed the waxy exterior coating that is unique to Mycobacteria.
Current Research
Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required Recent are being done on strains of rifampin-resistant M. leprae in two of three patients with recurring leprosy
References
[Sample reference] [Irgens L (2002). "The discovery of the leprosy bacillus". Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 122 (7): 708-9. PMID 11998735] [Cole ST, Eiglmeier K, Parkhill J, et al (2001). "Massive gene decay in the leprosy bacillus". Nature 409 (6823): 1007-11. doi:10.1038/35059006. PMID 11234002.] [Hernández E, Cardona-Castro N, Rodríguez G, Villegas S, Beltrán C, Kimura M, Vissa VD, Gómez Y. "Study of rifampin and dapsone resistance in three patients with recurring leprosy".Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2008 Feb;23(2):73-7.]