Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_010516:514000 Clostridium botulinum B1 str. Okra, complete genome

Lineage: Clostridium botulinum; Clostridium; Clostridiaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria

General Information: This organism produces one of the most potent and deadly neurotoxins known, a botulinum toxin that prevents the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, thereby inhibiting muscle contraction and causing paralysis. In most cases the diseased person dies of asphyxiation as a result of paralysis of chest muscles involved in breathing. The spores are heat-resistant and can survive in inadequately heated, prepared, or processed foods. Spores germinate under favorable conditions (anaerobiosis and substrate-rich environment) and bacteria start propagating very rapidly, producing the toxin.Botulinum toxin, and C. botulinum cells, has been found in a wide variety of foods, including canned ones. Almost any food that has a high pH (above 4.6) can support growth of the bacterium. Honey is the most common vehicle for infection in infants. Food poisoning through C. botulinum is the most frequent type of infection caused by this bacterium. The wound botulism that occurs when C. botulinum infects an individual via an open wound is much rarer and is very similar to tetanus disease. There are several types of botulinum toxin known (type A through type F), all of them being neurotoxic polypeptides. The most common and widely distributed are strains and serovars of C. botulinum that produce type A toxin.

Subject: NC_008011:663958 Lawsonia intracellularis PHE/MN1-00, complete genome

Lineage: Lawsonia intracellularis; Lawsonia; Desulfovibrionaceae; Desulfovibrionales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: Lawsonia intracellularis PHE/MN1-00 was isolated from intestinal mucosal lesions in pigs that had proliferative enteropathy (PE). When introduced into health pigs, this organism produced the clinical and histological signs of PE. Causative agent for proliferative enteropathy in swine. This organism causes proliferative enteropathy (ileitis) in swine and other domesticated animals resulting in severe losses each year. This obligate intracellular pathogen infects the mucosa of the lower intestinal tract by initially infecting crypt cells, which are precursors that normally grow and divide in order to replace the epithelial cells. Once infection occurs, the crypt cells are stimulated to grow and divide abnormally, resulting in the proliferative phenotype. In severe cases of the disease the entire bowel can become affected and persist for up to 40 days, greatly affecting the host animal.