Query: NC_010410:513298 Acinetobacter baumannii AYE, complete genome
Lineage: Acinetobacter baumannii; Acinetobacter; Moraxellaceae; Pseudomonadales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain is responsible for community-acquired infections and is highly resistant to antibiotics. This bacterium is commonly isolated from the hospital environment and hospitalized patients. It is an aquatic organism, and is often cultured from liquid medical samples such as respiratory secretions, wounds, and urine. Acinetobacter also colonizes irrigating solutions and intravenous solutions. Although it has low virulence, it is capable of causing infection. Most isolates recovered from patients represent colonization rather than infection. When infections do occur, they usually occur in the blood, or in organs with a high fluid content, such as the lungs or urinary tract. Infections by this organism are becoming increasingly problematic due to the high number of resistance genes found in clinical isolates. Some strains are now resistant to all known antibiotics. Most of these genes appear to have been transferred horizontally from other organisms.
Subject: NC_008593:1797000 Clostridium novyi NT, complete genome
Lineage: Clostridium novyi; Clostridium; Clostridiaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria
General Information: This strain (NT) was created so that it lacks the lethal toxin. Injection of spores of this organism into mice harboring tumors resulted in an increased immune response and destruction of the tumor tissue in a method known as COBALT (combination bacteriolytic therapy) when the spores along with chemotherapeutic agents or radiation are co-administered. The anaerobic bacteria preferentially target hypoxic cancer tissue and stimulate immune responses to that tissue. This genus comprises about 150 metabolically diverse species of anaerobes that are ubiquitous in virtually all anoxic habitats where organic compounds are present, including soils, aquatic sediments and the intestinal tracts of animals and humans. This shape is attributed to the presence of endospores that develop under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth and distend single cells terminally or sub-terminally. Spores germinate under conditions favorable for vegetative growth, such as anaerobiosis and presence of organic substrates. It is believed that present day Mollicutes (Eubacteria) have evolved regressively (i.e., by genome reduction) from gram-positive clostridia-like ancestors with a low GC content in DNA. Some species are capable of producing organic solvents (acetone, ethanol, etc,), molecular hydrogen and other useful compounds. Clostridium novyi is an anaerobic bacterium found in soil, aquatic sediments, and intestinal tract of both animals and humans. Some types produce lethal toxins.