Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_004061:498483 Buchnera aphidicola str. Sg (Schizaphis graminum), complete genome

Lineage: Buchnera aphidicola; Buchnera; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain is the symbiont of the aphid Schizaphis graminum and contains a large circular chromosome. Aphid endosymbiont. Almost all aphids contain maternally transmitted bacteriocyte cells, which themselves contain bacteria called Buchnera. The aphids live on a restricted diet (plant sap), rich in carbohydrates, but poor in nitrogenous or other essential compounds. It is believed that the Buchnera provide the essential nutrients the host lacks. Besides a nutritional co-dependence, due to a co-existence of millions of years, Buchnera have lost the ability to produce cell surface components such as lipopolysaccharides. This makes for an obligate endosymbiont relationship between host and Buchnera. Buchnera are prokaryotic cells which belong to the gamma-Proteobacteria, closely related to the Enterobacteriaceae family. Phylogenetic studies using 16S rRNA indicate that the symbiotic relationship was established around 200-250 million years ago. Since Buchnera are closely related to Escherichia coli and Haemophilus influenzae, comparative genomic studies can shed light on the evolutionary mechanisms of intracellular endosymbiosis as well as the different underlying molecular basis between organisms with parasitic behavior and symbionts.

Subject: NC_005139:2731623 Vibrio vulnificus YJ016 chromosome I, complete sequence

Lineage: Vibrio vulnificus; Vibrio; Vibrionaceae; Vibrionales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This is a Biotype 1 hospital isolate from Taiwan. It contains larger chromosomes and >1000 genes as compared to Vibrio cholerae and contains a conjugative plasmid, pYJ016. There are numerous virulence factors including a cytolysin, protease, capsular polysaccharide as well as iron-uptake systems encoded in the genome. This genus is abundant in marine or freshwater environments such as estuaries, brackish ponds, or coastal areas; regions that provide an important reservoir for the organism in between outbreaks of the disease. Vibrio can affect shellfish, finfish, and other marine animals and a number of species are pathogenic for humans. Organisms of this species are opportunistic pathogens that can attack immunocompromised patients and causes gastroenteritis (inflammation of mucous membranes of stomach and intestine), wound infections, and primary septicemia (spread of the organism through the blood). This organism is the major cause of death from eating raw oysters, especially in people with liver damage. It only affects humans and other primates.