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 Wolinella 

The genus Wolinella is a bacteria that belongs to the family Helicobacteraceae. It is an epsilon subclass of Proteobacteria. Wolinella was named after Dr. Meyer Wolin who identified Vibrio Succinogenes which has the same metabolic characteristics as Wolinella.

 Cell Morphology and Features 

The cells of the bacteria Wolinella are non-spore-forming gram-negative rods that have a single polar flagellum for movement. The cells of Wolinella can be helix-shaped, curved, or straight. The relative size of the cells is about 0.5-1 micrometers in diameter and 2-6 micrometers in length. When cells of Wolinella are growing together as a colony, they are yellow-opaque to translucent grey and contain convex, pitting, and spreading variants throughout the colonies.

 Phylogeny and Genome Evolution 

Wolinella is a diverse bacteria that has been evolutionarily defining itself for a long time. It is part of the phyla Helicobacteraceae, is a member of epsilon proteobacteria, and is known scientifically as W. succinogenes. It is close to H. Pylori when looking at its phylogeny (Baar et al., 2003). Research has shown that when observing the 23S rRNA protein, that W. succinogenes, H. Canadensis, H. ganmani, H. mesocricetorum, H. pullorum, H. rodentium, and H. winghamensis all share very similar characteristics pointing to the fact that they fall under the same phylogenetic tree (Dewhirst et al., 2005). This specific bacteria is extraordinary due to its significantly high amount of bacterial sensor kinases that utilize lateral gene transfer. Scientific data shows that this bacteria shows a close genetic resemblance to “soil- and plant-associated bacteria such as the nif genes.” (Baar et al., 2003). This data carries significance as it shows the genomic evolution of Wolinella sharing a common ancestor with these soil and plant species. A great example of this relation would be that Wolinella grows through anaerobic respiration using little oxygen.

 Metabolic Details 

Wolinella is a non-fermenting bacteria that uses fumarate as its primary source of carbon. The mechanism of respiration would be considered anaerobic fumarate respiration. As of now, no system proves that Wolinella uses glucose to perform glucose respiration. Genes that encode phosphofructokinase are present in Wolinella and allow gluconeogenesis to occur. The transformation of glucose-6-phosphate into pyruvate is the sole indicator of gluconeogenesis. “Wolinella succinogenes was found to grow on H2S plus fumarate with the formation of elemental sulfur and succinate. The growth rate was 0.18 h-1 (t d=3.8 h), and the growth yield was estimated to be 6.0 g per mol fumarate used. Growth also occurred on formate plus elemental sulfur; the products formed were H2S and CO2. The growth rate and estimated growth yield were 0.58 h-1 (t d=1.2 h) and 3.5 g per mol formate used, respectively. These results suggest that certain chemotrophic anaerobes may be involved in both the formation and reduction of sulfur." Wolinella is also similar to Epsilonproteobacteria because it will reduce nitrate and nitrite and perform respiratory nitrate ammonification. This process is due to the specific enzymes that it possesses. These enzymes will employ a proton motive force, which generates respiratory chains using low potential electron donors.

 Relevance to a Broader System 

Not much is known about how Wolinella is involved in the world around us. Some discoveries have been made regarding how it interacts with other bacteria and certain species. Wolinella is known for having a mutualistic relationship with hydrogen-producing organisms in which they perform interspecies hydrogen transfer. Another function of Wolinella in the environment is nitrate reduction that is achieved through either molecular hydrogens or formate as electron donors. In 1990 Wolinella was discovered in a frontal lobe brain abscess of a 62-year-old woman and was the first time it had been extracted from such a location. It is still unknown what part Wolinella played in the abscess formation but will hopefully be studied and understood in the future. Wolinella has been present in the oral cavities of felines and canines. The reasoning for its presence there is unknown as its effects are unknown.

 References 

Baar, C., Eppinger, M., Raddatz, G., Simon, J., Lanz, C., Klimmek, O., Nandakumar, R., Gross, R., Rosinus, A., Keller, H., Jagtap, P., Linke, B., Meyer, F., Lederer, H., & Schuster, S. C. (2003, September 30). Complete genome sequence and analysis of Wolinella succinogenes. PNAS. Retrieved September 16, 2021, from https://www.pnas.org/content/100/20/11690.

Dewhirst, F. E., Shen, Z., Scimeca, M. S., Stokes, L. N., Boumenna, T., Chen, T., Paster, B. J., & Fox, J. G. (2005). Discordant 16S and 23S rRNA gene phylogenies for the genus Helicobacter: implications for phylogenetic inference and systematics. Journal of bacteriology, 187(17), 6106–6118. https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.187.17.6106-6118.2005

Hanemaaijer, M., Olivier, B. G., Röling, W. F., Bruggeman, F. J., & Teusink, B. (2017). Model-based quantification of metabolic interactions from dynamic microbial-community data. PloS one, 12(3), e0173183. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173183

Juhnke, H. D., Hiltscher, H., Nasiri, H. R., Schwalbe, H., & Lancaster, C. R. (2009). Production, characterization and determination of the real catalytic properties of the putative 'succinate dehydrogenase' from Wolinella succinogenes. Molecular microbiology, 71(5), 1088–1101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2008.06581.x Macy, J.M., Schröder, I., Thauer, R.K. et al. Growth the Wolinella succinogenes on H2S plus fumarate and on formate plus sulfur as energy sources. Arch. Microbiol. 144, 147–150 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00414725

Marrie, T. J., & Kerr, E. (1990). Brain abscess due to Wolinella recta and Streptococcus intermedius. The Canadian journal of infectious diseases = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses, 1(1), 31–34. https://doi.org/10.1155/1990/172985

Polansky, O., Sekelova, Z., Faldynova, M., Sebkova, A., Sisak, F., & Rychlik, I. (2015). Important Metabolic Pathways and Biological Processes Expressed by Chicken Cecal Microbiota. Applied and environmental microbiology, 82(5), 1569–1576. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.03473-15

Simon J., Gross R., Klimmek O., Kröger A. (2006) The Genus Wolinella. In: Dworkin M., Falkow S., Rosenberg E., Schleifer KH., Stackebrandt E. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30747-8_6

Tanner A., Paster B.J. (1992) The Genus Wolinella. In: Balows A., Trüper H.G., Dworkin M., Harder W., Schleifer KH. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2191-1_28