Query: NC_005955:1166521 Bartonella quintana str. Toulouse, complete genome Lineage: Bartonella quintana; Bartonella; Bartonellaceae; Rhizobiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria General Information: Bartonella quintana str. Toulouse was isolated from human blood in Toulouse, France in 1993. Causative agent of trench fever. This group of alpha proteobacteria are unique among pathogens in that they cause angiogenic lesions. This organism was first identified as the causative agent of louse-born trench fever during World War I. Up to 800 000 were infected in the trenches because of the louse insect vector that was widespread due to poor sanitation. The disease is now found associated with immunocompromized patients, especially HIV patients and homeless alcoholics.
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General Information: This red-pigmented organism's name means "strange berry that withstands radiation", marking the fact that this organism is one of the most radiation-resistant known. It can tolerate radiation levels at 1000 times the levels that would kill a human and it was originally isolated in 1956 from a can of meat that had been irradiated with X-rays. The resistance to radiation may reflect its resistance to dessication, which also causes DNA damage. This organism may be of use in cleaning up toxic metals found at nuclear weapons production sites due to the radiation resistance. This bacterium is also a highly efficient transformer, and can readily take up exogenous DNA from the environment, which may also aid DNA repair. This organism carries multiple copies of many DNA repair genes, suggesting a robust system for dealing with DNA damage. The recombination system may rely on multiple copies of various repeat elements found throughout the genome.