Query: NC_003103:919000 Rickettsia conorii str. Malish 7, complete genome
Lineage: Rickettsia conorii; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was isolated from a human in South Africa. Causative agent for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. This genus, like other Rickettsial organisms such as Neorickettsia and Anaplasma, is composed of obligate intracellular pathogens. The latter is composed of two organisms, Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia typhi. The bacteria are transmitted via an insect, usually a tick, to a host organism, in this case humans, where they target endothelial cells and sometimes macrophages. They attach via an adhesin, rickettsial outer membrane protein A, and are internalized where they persist as cytoplasmically free organisms. Transovarial transmission (from mother to offspring) occurs in the invertebrate host. This organism causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever which can cause severe damage to the endothelial layer of major organs, including the lungs, heart, kidneys, and skeletal muscle which can result in death.
Subject: NC_002488:2502000 Xylella fastidiosa 9a5c, complete genome
Lineage: Xylella fastidiosa; Xylella; Xanthomonadaceae; Xanthomonadales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was derived from a pathogenic strain (8.1b) isolated in 1992 in France that had come from infected twigs derived from the sweet orange strain Valencia in Brazil in the same year. This organism was first identified in 1993 as the causal agent of citrus variegated chlorosis, a disease that affects varieties of sweet oranges. Other strains of this species cause a range of diseases in mulberry, pear, almond, elm, sycamore, oak, maple, pecan and coffee which collectively result in multimillion dollar devastation of economically important plants. Xylella fastidiosa is similar to Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris in that it produces a wide variety of pathogenic factors for colonization in a host-specific manner including a large number of fimbrial and afimbrial adhesins for attachment. It does not contain a type III secretion system, but possesses genes for a type II secretion system for export of exoenzymes that degrade the plant cell wall and allow the bacterium to colonize the plant xylem.