= Spirochaete
A <spirochaete> is a member of a distinctive group of elongated, flexible <bacteria> with <flagella> housed in the <periplasm>, between the inner cellular body and outer <cell membrane>. These internal <flagella> contribute to characteristic bending or wave-like movement. A spiral-looking outline alone does not identify a <spirochaete>.
In <Borrelia burgdorferi>, disrupting the <gene> for a major flagellar <protein> produced nonmotile, rod-shaped <cells> in place of the normal flat-wave form. Thus the internal flagellar apparatus contributes both to motion and to body shape.<Borrelia burgdorferi periplasmic flagella have both skeletal and motility functions by M. A. Motaleb and others>[2000, abstract: targeted flaB mutation and changed morphology]{ref} Some <spirochaetes> cause <disease>, including <Lyme disease>, but the group is defined by evolutionary and cellular relationships, not by one clinical outcome.
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