Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_011244:497212 Borrelia recurrentis A1, complete genome

Lineage: Borrelia recurrentis; Borrelia; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria

General Information: Borrelia recurrentis isolated from adult patient with louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia. Borrelia recurrentis is the causative agent of louse-borne relapsing fever. Prior to World War II, this organism was responsible for large disease outbreaks with a mortality of up to 40% in much of the world. Currently this disease is limited to parts of Africa, China, and Peru. B. recurrentis is transmitted when infected human body lice (Pediculus humanus) are crushed and their fluids contaminate mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. Relapsing fever is characterized by a period of chills, fever, headache, and malaise, an asymptomatic period, followed by another episode of symptoms. This cycle of relapsing is due to changes in the surface proteins of Borrelia, which allow it to avoid detection and removal by the host immune system. This antigenic variation is the result of homologous recombination of silent proteins into an expressed locus, causing partial or complete replacement of one serotype with another.

Subject: NC_007354:233991 Ehrlichia canis str. Jake, complete genome

Lineage: Ehrlichia canis; Ehrlichia; Anaplasmataceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was isolated in 1989 in North Carolina, USA from a 2-year-old male dog. This organisms causes canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, which is a tick-born disease that causes severe morbidity in domesticated and wild dogs. The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, transfers the organism from its salivary glands to the animal when feeding. Persistence in the vacuole leads to replication and cell division and eventual release from the cell which leads to further spreading of the bacterium throughout the host. The end result is an increase in platelet count and anemia.