摘要
The Leptospira are slender (0.1 μm × 6–20 μm), tightly coiled spirochetes characterized by very active “spinning” flexuous motility. These obligately aerobic bacteria appear to have the simplest nutritional requirements of the spirochetes (Johnson, 1977). They possess the typical spirochete morphology, which consists of an outer envelope covering the coiled protoplasmic cylinder with two flagella (axial filaments) located beneath the outer envelope and each attached subterminally to opposite ends of the protoplasmic cylinder. The free ends of the flagella extend toward the middle of the cell but do not overlap. The flagella are believed to be responsible for the motility of spirochetes. When leptospires are undergoing translational movement in free liquid, one end of the organism is straight while the other is hooked, and movement is in the direction of the straight end.
摘要译文
钩端螺旋体是细长的（0.1μm×6-20μm），紧密盘绕的螺旋体，其特征在于非常活跃的“旋转”弯曲运动。这些特别需要好氧的细菌似乎对螺旋体具有最简单的营养需求（Johnson，1977）。它们具有典型的螺旋体形态，其由覆盖盘绕的原生质圆柱体的外壳组成，其中两个鞭毛（轴向细丝）位于外壳下方，并且每个腋下连接到原质圆柱体的相对端。鞭毛的自由端向细胞中间延伸但不重叠。鞭毛被认为是螺旋体运动的原因。当钩端螺旋体在自由液体中进行平移运动时，生物体的一端是直的而另一端是钩状的，并且运动是在直端的方向上。
Russell C. Johnson. Aerobic Spirochetes: The Genus Leptospira. The Prokaryotes[M].DE: Springer, 1981: 582-591