Query: NC_005125:480500 Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7421, complete genome
Lineage: Gloeobacter violaceus; Gloeobacter; ; Gloeobacterales; Cyanobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This organism was isolated from a calcereous (chalky) rock in Switzerland. Photosynthetic bacterium. This organism is an obligate photoautotroph that lacks thylakoid membranes and probably has its photosynthetic machinery in the cytoplasmic membrane with various components exposed to the periplasm whereas in other cyanobacteria the components are situated in the thylakoid membrane and are exposed to the cytoplasm. This unusual arrangement may be due to the lack of various fatty acids that are found in the thylakoid membrane in other cyanobacteria. It has been predicted that this organism was one of the earliest to diverge from the cyanobacterial line.
Subject: NC_003305:1743939 Agrobacterium tumefaciens str. C58 chromosome linear, complete
Lineage: Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Agrobacterium; Rhizobiaceae; Rhizobiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Gram-negative soil bacterium. This is the most widely studied species in the genus. Strains of Agrobacterium are classified in three biovars based on their utilisation of different carbohydrates and other biochemical tests. The differences between biovars are determined by genes on the single circle of chromosomal DNA. Biovar differences are not particularly relevant to the pathogenicity of A. tumefaciens, except in one respect: biovar 3 is found worldwide as the pathogen of gravevines. This species causes crown gall disease of a wide range of dicotyledonous (broad-leaved) plants, especially members of the rose family such as apple, pear, peach, cherry, almond, raspberry and roses. Because of the way that it infects other organisms, this bacterium has been used as a tool in plant breeding. Any desired genes, such as insecticidal toxin genes or herbicide-resistance genes, can be engineered into the bacterial DNA, and then inserted into the plant genome. This process shortens the conventional plant breeding process, and allows entirely new (non-plant) genes to be engineered into crops.