Query: NC_014014:153837 Mycoplasma crocodyli MP145 chromosome, complete genome
Lineage: Mycoplasma crocodyli; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasmataceae; Mycoplasmatales; Tenericutes; Bacteria
General Information: Mycoplasma crocodyli was isolated from the joint of a crocodile with exudative polyarthritis. The siblingspecies of M. crocodyli, Mycoplasma alligatoris causes acute lethalprimary infection of susceptible hosts, notably American alligators.This pathogen is studied to understand the mechanisms and evolutionaryorigins of that virulence. A genome survey indicated that M. alligatorisuses sialidase (Nanl) and hyaluronidase (NagH) to generate fuel forglycolysis from host cell glycans. M. crocodyli, which does not causedisease in American alligators, possesses NagH but not Nanl, so damageto the host's extracellular matrix alone cannot explain the particularvirulence of M. alligatoris.
Subject: NC_002696:2829002 Caulobacter crescentus CB15, complete genome
Lineage: Caulobacter vibrioides; Caulobacter; Caulobacteraceae; Caulobacterales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Bacterium that undergoes asymmetric cell division and differentiation. Caulobacter vibroides, also known as Caulobacter crescentus, inhabits aquatic environments and plays an important part in biogeochemical cycling of organic nutrients. This bacterium undergoes an unusual developmental cycle in which a swarming motile cell becomes a stalked cell that is attached to a solid surface. The stalked cell then undergoes asymmetric cell division and produces one flagellated motile daughter cell and one stalked daughter cell. Thus, the asymmetric processes in this organism provide useful models for differentiation and development. This organism also contains a number of energy-dependent transport system, presumably enabling growth in the substrate-sparse aquatic environments that it lives in.