Genome analysis of Rickettsia heilongjiangensis

Rickettsia heilongjiangensis is the causative agent of far eastern spotted fever. In Japan, the first human case of far eastern spotted fever was identified in Sendai city in 2008, and R. heilongjiangensis were isolated from Haemaphysalis concinna ticks collected in the area where the infection was suspected to have occurred. In this project, we sequenced 3 strains isolated in Sendai in 2008, 2009, and 2012, respectively. In addition, we sequenced a strain isolated from Haemaphysalis concinna collected in Inner-Mongolia of China in 1996, and performed a whole genome sequence-based high resolution phylogenetic analysis of these strains and the previously sequenced type strain of R. heilongjiangensis isolated in Heilongjiang province of China (strain 054). The aim of this project is to understand the genomic diversity of R. heilongjiangensis and the genetic relationship of Japanese and Chinese strains.