Intraerythrocytic bacteria (purple-stained bunches in left four-panel figure) in red-backed salamanders. The role of this microbe is unclear as infected salamanders did have elevated white blood cell counts but did not display any disease. Very cool!
No genome for this endosymbiont yet…anybody interested? Perhaps mining host “-ome” projects may turn up some valuable data. You know, sequences from those pesky “contaminant bacteria”.
New Findings from an Old Pathogen: Intraerythrocytic Bacteria (Family Anaplasmatacea) in Red-Backed Salamanders Plethodon cinereus
Andrew K. Davis, Jayna L. DeVore, Joseph R. Milanovich, Kristen Cecala, John C. Maerz, and Michael J. Yabsley EcoHealth 6, 219–228, 2009 DOI: 10.1007/s10393-009-0250-0