Query: NC_016893:694587 Wigglesworthia glossinidia endosymbiont of Glossina morsitans
Lineage: Wigglesworthia glossinidia; Wigglesworthia; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This organism is the obligate endosymbiont for the tsetse fly Glossina brevipalpis, Glossina tachinoides, Glossina palpalis palpalis, and Glossina austeni. The tsetse fly is a vector for African trypanosomes, and is the main transmitter of deadly diseases in animals and humans in Africa. The fly feeds on a restricted diet, exclusively consisting of vertebrate blood, and lacks certain metabolic compounds needed for survival and reproduction. To complement this lack in nutrients, the tsetse fly relies mainly on the intracellular bacterial symbiont, Wigglesworthia glossinidia for its viability and fecundity.
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.