Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTN

Query: NC_017505:721395 Neisseria meningitidis alpha710 chromosome, complete genome

Lineage: Neisseria meningitidis; Neisseria; Neisseriaceae; Neisseriales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: The second of two pathogenic Neisseria, this organism causes septicemia and is the leading cause of life-threatening meningitis (inflammation of the meninges, the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord) in children. This organism typically residies in the nasopharynx cavity but can invade the respiratory epthelial barrier, cross into the bloodstream and the blood brain barrier, and cause inflammation of the meninges. Pathogenicity factors include the surface proteins (porins and opacity proteins), and the type IV pilus (which is also found in Neisseria gonorrhoeae). This organism, like Neisseria gonorrhoeae, is naturally competent, and protein complexes at the cell surface recognize the uptake signal sequence in extracellular DNA, an 8mer that is found at high frequency in Neisseria chromosomal DNA.

Subject: NC_008095:7499255 Myxococcus xanthus DK 1622, complete genome

Lineage: Myxococcus xanthus; Myxococcus; Myxococcaceae; Myxococcales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: First isolated from soil in 1941. Bacterium with a multi-stage lifecycle. M.xanthus is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium. This organism undergoes a complex development and differentiation pathway. When cell density increases, the organism switches to "social motility" where aggregates of cells can gather together into masses termed fruiting bodies that may consist of up to 100 000 cells. This organism is also utilized industrially to produce the anticancer drug epithilone.