Query: NC_002929:2589202 Bordetella pertussis Tohama I, complete genome
Lineage: Bordetella pertussis; Bordetella; Alcaligenaceae; Burkholderiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was originally isolated from a patient with whooping cough and has been studied extensively for over 40 years. Causative agent of whooping cough. This group of organisms is capable of invading the respiratory tract of animals and causing severe diseases. They express a number of virulence factors in order to do this including filamentous hemagglutins for attachment, cytotoxins, and proteins that form a type III secretion system for transport of effector molecules into host cells. This organism, which is unable to persist in the environment, is a strict human pathogen that causes whooping cough. Once a common cause of death in children the development of a vaccine has greatly decreased the number of deaths due to Bordetella pertussis. However, this organism infects and estimated 39 million people and kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.
Subject: NC_008380:4968492 Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841, complete genome
Lineage: Rhizobium leguminosarum; Rhizobium; Rhizobiaceae; Rhizobiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This biovar nodulates legumes in the Tribe Viciae (Vicia, Pisum, Lathyrus, Lens). This strain is a spontaneous streptomycin-resistant mutant of strain 300. Nitrogen-fixing plant symbiont. This organism, like other Rhizobia, establishes a symbiotic relationship with a legume plant, providing nitrogen in exchange for a protected environment. The legume roots secrete flavonoids and isoflavonoids which the bacteria recognize and use to turn on genes involved in root nodulation. Many of the root nodulation genes are involved in synthesis and secretion of a nodule inducing signal, a lipochito-oligosaccharide molecule, which the plant recognizes, triggering nodule formation. The bacterium is endocytosed and exists inside a membrane bound organelle, the symbiosome, and fixes nitrogen for the plant cell while the host cell provides carbon compounds for the bacterium to grow on. The nitrogen fixation is important as it obviates the need for expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizer use.