Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTP

Query: NC_005363:2588852 Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100, complete genome

Lineage: Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus; Bdellovibrio; Bdellovibrionaceae; Bdellovibrionales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This organism is unique in that it is a bacteriolytic microbe that preys on other gram negative bacteria. It is found throughout soil, sewage, and aquatic environments, and is often associated with biofilms. This organism has a biphasic lifestyle which consists of a free living and motile phase, and an attack phase where the bacterium attaches to a host cell, burrows into the periplasm, and begins to degrade the host from the inside out. The organism sheds its flagellum once it makes irreversible contact with the host, and when it is inside, begins to form a bdelloplast, resulting in degradation of the host cell inner membrane and alteration of its peptidoglycan layer, resulting in a spherical cell. The Bdellovibrio cell elongates until it forms a long coiled structure which then divides, forming many flagellated progeny which continue the degradation of the host cell to propagate the life cycle. The genome encodes a large number of degradative and lytic enzymes which are used to degrade the host organism. The organism has numerous deficiencies in its amino acid biosynthetic pathways, suggesting it utilizes prey metabolites for protein synthesis.

Subject: NC_000919:746875 Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum str. Nichols, complete genome

Lineage: Treponema pallidum; Treponema; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria

General Information: This strain was originally isolated in 1912 from a neurosyphilitic patient and is virulent. This organism is the causative agent of endemic and venereal syphilis. This sexual transmitted disease was first discovered in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, however, the causative agent was not identified until 1905. At one time syphilis was the third most commonly reported communicable disease in the USA. Syphilis is characterized by multiple clinical stages and long periods of latent, asymptomatic infection. Although effective therapies have been available since the introduction of penicillin, syphilis remains a global health problem. This organisms is divided into subspecies each of which causes a specific disease. T. pallidum causes the venereal disease syphilis. T. pertenue, T. carateum and T. endemicum cause the skin infections yaws, pinta and bejel, respectively.