We’ve reach the last day of #14DaysofMicrobiologyPoems.

I reached out to the science Twitterverse earlier this month in search of 14 microbes worthy of poems.

Here is Poem Fourteen, requested by @MoKrobial.

 

 

 

 

The corkscrewing Treponema pallidum

If you look under the scope,
To see tiny creatures wiggling around,
Spiraling like a corkscrew,
You’ve likely found a spirochete,
A type of bacteria named for its distinctive spiral shape.
A most delicate spiral.

One such microbe is Treponema pallidum,
The culprit behind syphilis, endemic syphilis, and yaws.

T. pallidum is a small one
With a genome just over one million base pairs.
(For comparison, E. coli’s genome is four times that size.)

Its survival depends on a host,
Without a host cell, no T. pallidum thrives.

It’s thought that T. pallidum evolved from a more complex ancestor,
Casting aside unnecessary genes and functions.

Now, left with limited biosynthetic capabilities,
Unable to create some of its own enzyme cofactors, fatty acids, and nucleotides,
It leaches nutrients from the host.

But what it does have is a repertoire of transport proteins,
To bring in nutrients from its environment.
Over five percent of its genes encode transporter proteins
With broad substrate specificity.

Other bugs that live independently may wonder why T. pallidum lives this way,
But when T. pallidum has evolved to take on the obligate lifestyle
It seems to make sense.

Further reading:

Complete Genome Sequence of Treponema pallidum, the Syphilis Spirochete. Science. 1998.