Taxonomy and biodiversity of members of Pasteurellaceae
Henrik Christensen and Magne Bisgaard
from: Pasteurellaceae: Biology, Genomics and Molecular Aspects (Edited by: Peter Kuhnert and Henrik Christensen). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2008)
Abstract
The family Pasteurellaceae Pohl 1981 includes 38 properly classified species in addition to 24 misclassified species. The majority of taxa have been isolated from disease conditions in warm blooded animals and in particular in farm animals. These bacteria are obligate parasites or commensals of vertebrates, colonizing mainly the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract, oropharynx, and reproductive tracts and possibly also parts of the intestinal tract. Most taxa represent potential pathogens although mechanisms of virulence have remained unknown or doubtful until recent years. Both systemic and local infections have been reported for most taxa involved in diseases. However, pneumonia has been reported most frequently out of a number of other disease manifestations. Fossil remnants of members of Pasteurellaceae have never been reported and information on the diversification of taxa within the family can only be obtained by phylogenetic reconstruction. Most likely the current members of Pasteurellaceae might have been present as common ancestors of for example birds and dinosaurs. For marsupials, monotremes and reptiles information is very limited and further insight from these groups would be very helpful to test the hypothesis of co-evolution of host and parasite read more ...
