Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_005303:272915 Onion yellows phytoplasma OY-M, complete genome

Lineage: Onion yellows phytoplasma; Phytoplasma; Acholeplasmataceae; Acholeplasmatales; Tenericutes; Bacteria

General Information: This strain (OY-M) is derived from a wild-type disease-causing strain (OY-W; onions yellow disease) which was isolated in Saga Prefecture, Japan, in 1982, and shows mild symptoms and does not cause stunting nor phloem hyperplasia (excessive increase in number of cells). Plant pathogenic bacterium. Phytoplasmas inhabit phloem (food-conducting vascular tissue) sieve elements of plants where they cause a variety of diseases. There is great interest in sequencing these organisms since they are currently unculturable and examination of the genome may lead to methods to deal with the diseases they cause including the development of antimicrobial agents. There is great interest in sequencing these organisms since they are currently unculturable and examination of the genome may lead to methods to deal with the diseases they cause including the development of antimicrobial agents.

Subject: NC_011896:2240990 Mycobacterium leprae Br4923, complete genome

Lineage: Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was isolated from a human skin biopsy in Brazil, and passaged in nude mice and armadillos. The bacterium is a close relative of M. tuberculosis. However, compared to the latter, the genome of M. leprae is smaller due to reductive genome evolution, with many important metabolic activities including siderophore production, part of the oxidative chain, most of the microaerophilic and anaerobic respiratory chains, and numerous catabolic systems and their regulatory circuits eliminated due to extensive recombination events between dispersed repetitive sequences. It is evident that this species has undergone massive genome reduction over time as a result of its parasitic nature, discarding more than half its genes and rendering it the most striking example of genome reduction in a microbial pathogen.