Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_011896:2571232 Mycobacterium leprae Br4923, complete genome

Lineage: Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was isolated from a human skin biopsy in Brazil, and passaged in nude mice and armadillos. The bacterium is a close relative of M. tuberculosis. However, compared to the latter, the genome of M. leprae is smaller due to reductive genome evolution, with many important metabolic activities including siderophore production, part of the oxidative chain, most of the microaerophilic and anaerobic respiratory chains, and numerous catabolic systems and their regulatory circuits eliminated due to extensive recombination events between dispersed repetitive sequences. It is evident that this species has undergone massive genome reduction over time as a result of its parasitic nature, discarding more than half its genes and rendering it the most striking example of genome reduction in a microbial pathogen.

Subject: NC_009142:7820251 Saccharopolyspora erythraea NRRL 2338, complete genome

Lineage: Saccharopolyspora erythraea; Saccharopolyspora; Pseudonocardiaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: Source of the antibiotic erythromycin. Saccharopolyspora erythraea is the soil bacterium that produces the industrially important antibiotic erythromycin A. Erythromycin is a clinically important and potent macrolide antibiotic. It is used to treat infections caused by several prokaryotic pathogens such as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Mycoplasma, Ureaplasma, Chlamydia and Legionella. Production of this antibiotic is lower than others in the same class, such as penicillin or cephalosporin, which has led to the development of a genetic system to attempt to enhance the production of erythromycin.