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Rickettsia amblyommatis  belongs to the spotted fever group of  Rickettsia  and infects  Amblyomma americanum  (Lone Star ticks) for transmission to offspring and mammals. Historically, the geographic range of  A. americanum  was restricted to the southeastern USA. However, recent tick surveys identified the progressive northward invasion of  A. americanum , contributing to the increased number of patients with febrile illnesses of unknown etiology after a tick bite in the northeastern USA. While serological evidence strongly suggests that patients are infected with  R. amblyommatis , the virulence potential of  R. amblyommatis  is not well established. Here, we performed a bioinformatic analysis of three genome sequences of  R. amblyommatis  and identified the presence of multiple putative virulence genes whose products are implicated for spotted fever pathogenesis. Similar to other pathogenic spotted fever rickettsiae,  R. amblyommatis  replicated intracellularly within the cytoplasm of tissue culture cells. Interestingly,  R. amblyommatis  displayed defective attachment to microvascular endothelial cells. The attachment defect and slow growth rate of  R. amblyommatis  required relatively high intravenous infectious doses to produce dose-dependent morbidity and mortality in C3H mice. In summary, our results corroborate clinical evidence that  R. amblyommatis  can cause mild disease manifestation in some patients.

Virulence potential of Rickettsia amblyommatis for spotted fever pathogenesis in mice