Query: NC_010263:278463 Rickettsia rickettsii str. Iowa, complete genome
Lineage: Rickettsia rickettsii; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Causative agent for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. This organism was first identified by Dr. Howard Rickets as the causative agent of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which was originally named for its geographic distribution at the time, it is now known to be widespread throughout the North American continent. This bacterium is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects primarily the vascular endothelium, and occasionally smooth muscle tissue. It is passed to the human host from a tick bite, and the tick acts as both a natural reservoir and a vector for disease transmission. Once the organism is endocytosed by the host cell, it quickly escapes the phagozome, and replicates intracellularly, causing cell death and tissue damage. The disease is characterized by a spotted rash and has a high mortality rate if left untreated.
Subject: NC_014974:404015 Thermus scotoductus SA-01 chromosome, complete genome
Lineage: Thermus scotoductus; Thermus; Thermaceae; Thermales; Deinococcus-Thermus; Bacteria
General Information: This is a thermophilic, facultatively mixotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacterium. Thermus scotoductus SA-01 was isolated from fissure water in a South African gold mine. This organism is a thermophilic bacterium which was isolated from fissure water in the Witwatersrand Supergroup at a depth of 3.2 km below surface in a South African gold mine. It is a 2.9-billion-year-old formation of low permeability sandstone and shale with minor volcanic units and conglomerates. The ambient temperature of the rock is approximately 60°C. Samples were collected from a freshly mined rock surface and from a water-producing borehole that penetrated 121 m horizontally into the formation at a depth of 3,198 m. T. scotoductus SA-01 is a facultative anaerobe capable of coupling the oxidation of organic substrates to reduction of a wide range of electron acceptors, including nitrate, Fe(III), Mn(IV) or S(0) as terminal electron acceptors.