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In Vitro Cultivation and Antibiotic Susceptibility of a Cytophaga-Like Intracellular Symbiote Isolated from the Tick Ixodes scapularis

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Abstract

A Cytophaga-like organism (CLO), isolated from the tick Ixodes scapularis (IsCLO), was adapted to growth in insect cell lines and its antibiotic sensitivity was tested. IsCLO were introduced to four insect cell lines, and their growth was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. IsCLO propagated well in a mosquito cell line, AeAl-2, and caused cytopathic effects in host cells. A lepidopteran cell line, HZ-AM1, was also suitable for propagation of IsCLO and kept a steady state with bacterial growth. Using IsCLO-infected AeAl-2, antibiotics effective against the bacteria included ampicillin, chloramphenicol, penicillin-G, rifampicin, and tetracycline. These antibiotics will be useful for eliminating CLO from host arthropods, which is necessary for in vivo studies of the intracellular facultative symbiotes.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jun Mitsuhashi of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Chisa Yasunaga-Aoki of Kyushu University for providing their cell lines. This work was supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (nos. 16580041 and 15380040) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Owashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8634, Japan

    Sayaka Morimoto & Hiroaki Noda

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    Timothy J. Kurtti

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  1. Sayaka Morimoto
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  2. Timothy J. Kurtti
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  3. Hiroaki Noda
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Correspondence to Hiroaki Noda.

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Morimoto, S., Kurtti, T.J. & Noda, H. In Vitro Cultivation and Antibiotic Susceptibility of a Cytophaga-Like Intracellular Symbiote Isolated from the Tick Ixodes scapularis. Curr Microbiol 52, 324–329 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-005-0349-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-005-0349-7

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