Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_012563:3580000 Clostridium botulinum A2 str. Kyoto, complete genome

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

General Information: This strain was isolated from a case of infant botulism in Kyoto, Japan in 1978. 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_002935:1378566 Corynebacterium diphtheriae NCTC 13129, complete genome

Lineage: Corynebacterium diphtheriae; Corynebacterium; Corynebacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was isolated in 1997 from the pharyngeal membrane of a 72-year-old unimmunized UK female with clinical diphtheria acquired during a short Baltic cruise. Causative agent of diphtheria. They may be found as members of the normal microflora of humans, where these bacteria find a suitable niche in virtually every anatomic site. This organism is the best known and most widely studied species of the genus. It is the causal agent of the disease diphtheria, a deadly infectious disease spreading from person to person by respiratory droplets from the throat through coughing and sneezing. In the course of infection, the bacteria invade and colonize tissues of the upper respiratory tract, proliferate and produce exotoxin that inhibits protein synthesis and causes local lesions and systemic degenerative changes in the heart, muscles, peripheral nerves, liver and other vital organs. In 1951, Victor Freeman discovered that pathogenic (toxigenic) strains. Moreover, later it was found that the gene for toxin production is located in the DNA of the B-type phage.