Query: NC_010263:167450 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.
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General Information: The strain was isolated from a symbiotic association with the gymnosperm cycad Macrozamia sp. It typically grows in freshwater habitats. This genera of cyanobacteria are typically terrestrially-associated and are especially found in limestone or nutrient-poor soils. They are very similar to Anabaena spp. and historically they have been distinguished on the basis of morphological and life cycle characteristics. Nostoc spp. can grow heterotrophically or photoheterotrophically, and form heterocysts for nitrogen fixation. This organism can form nitrogen-fixing symbiotic relationships with plants and fungi such as the bryophyte Anthoceros punctatus. The relationship is relatively simple as compared to the Rhizobial symbiotic relationship. In the presence of the plant, hormogonia (short motile filaments) infect the plant, and then form long heterocyst-containing (nitrogen-fixing differentiated bacterial cells) filaments. The bacterial cell receives carbon sources in exchange for fixed nitrogen.