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Coxiella burnetii: Recent Advances and New Perspectives in Research of the Q Fever Bacterium pp 215–229Cite as

Axenic Growth of Coxiella burnetii

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((volume 984))

Abstract

Early metabolic studies of C. burnetii showed minimal metabolic activity of axenic (host cell-free) organisms in buffers adjusted to neutral pH. However, our understanding of the organism’s physiology was greatly improved upon the discovery that C. burnetii requires an acidic pH for metabolic activation. Indeed, information gained from acid activation studies coupled with contemporary analyses using transcription microarrays, metabolic pathway reconstruction and metabolite typing, led to an axenic culture system that supports robust growth of C. burnetii. While axenic culture of C. burnetii can present some technical challenges, the technique is currently facilitating new lines of investigation and development of genetic tools. Axenic cultivation of C. burnetii should also prove useful in clinical settings.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Robert A. Heinzen for critical review of this manuscript, and Anita Mora and Austin Athman for graphic illustrations. This work was funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coxiella Pathogenesis Section, Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 903 South 4th Street, Hamilton, MT, 59840, USA

    Anders Omsland

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  1. Anders Omsland
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Correspondence to Anders Omsland .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Virology, Dept. of Rickettsiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dubravska cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 05, Slovakia

    Rudolf Toman

  2. Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Coxiella Pathogenesis Section, NIH/NIAID, South Fourth Street 903, Hamilton, 59840, Montana, USA

    Robert A. Heinzen

  3. , Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis, College of Medicine, Texas A&M, Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building, College Station 407, College Station, 77843-1114, Texas, USA

    James E. Samuel

  4. Institut Fédératif de Recherche 48, Les Maladies Infect Transmissibles, CNRS-IRD UMR 6236, Bd Jean Moulin 27, Marseille, Cedex 05, 13385, France

    Jean-Louis Mege

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Omsland, A. (2012). Axenic Growth of Coxiella burnetii . In: Toman, R., Heinzen, R., Samuel, J., Mege, JL. (eds) Coxiella burnetii: Recent Advances and New Perspectives in Research of the Q Fever Bacterium. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 984. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4315-1_11

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