Borrelia

What you should know:

Borrelia are Gram-negative spirochaetes with an axial filament that enables them to move even in thick mucus. They are chemoheterotrophs, often free-living, but sometimes pathogenic. They are the cause of Lyme Disease (B. burgdorferi and 2 other strains) in which the body's immune system ends up damaging the host's own tissues. Borrelia is also unusual in that it has a linear chromosome and 17 plasmids, some of which are also linear!

Classification: 

Domain Bacteria

    Phylum Spirochaetes

        Class Spirochaetes

Bergey's Manual Volume 4: The Bacteroidetes, Spirochaetes, Tenericutes (Mollicutes), Acidobacteria, Fibrobacteres, Fusobacteria, Dictyoglomi, Gemmatimonadetes, Lentisphaerae, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae, and Planctomycetes

Links

http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/ideas/shows/bacteria/bacteria.html