Genetic Manipulation of Rickettsia Prowazekii Seven

Given the difficulties encountered in previous studies in the generation of mutants from R. prowazekii, the purpose of the research conducted by Driskell et al., as presented in Directed Mutagenesis of the Rickettsia prowazekii pld Gene Encoding Phospholipase D, was to carry a successful knockout of the pld gene in order to evaluate its role in the growth and the virulence of R. prowazekii as well as the production of a pld mutant as a live non-revertible vaccine strain (2009). Due to the laborious and time consuming nature as well as the technological requirements of the study, the research was conducted in three primary locations: University of South Alabama College of Medicine, Alabama; University of Texas Medical Branch, Texas and the Anhui Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China (Driskell et al., 2009).