Query: NC_007797:914500 Anaplasma phagocytophilum HZ, complete genome
Lineage: Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Anaplasma; Anaplasmataceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Isolated from a patient in New York, USA, in 1995. This organism is a tick-borne (Ixodesspp.) obligate intracellular pathogen that infects humans and causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis as well as infecting several other types of animals. This organism produces a number of pathogenic factors that aid virulence. These include specific adhesins for neutrophils, virulence factors that inhibit both phagosome-lysozome fusion and production of reactive oxygen species that would normally kill the bacterium. The bacterium also inhibits programmed cell death of the neutrophil (apoptosis) and induces expression of interleukin-8, which causes neutrophil chemotaxis, thereby increasing the spread of the bacterium throughout the host organism.
Subject: NC_009085:131000 Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17978, complete genome
Lineage: Acinetobacter baumannii; Acinetobacter; Moraxellaceae; Pseudomonadales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Isolated from a case of meningitis. Causes opportunistic infections in hospitals. This bacterium is commonly isolated from the hospital environment and hospitalized patients. It is an aquatic organism, and is often cultured from liquid medical samples such as respiratory secretions, wounds, and urine. Acinetobacter also colonizes irrigating solutions and intravenous solutions. Although it has low virulence, it is capable of causing infection. Most isolates recovered from patients represent colonization rather than infection. When infections do occur, they usually occur in the blood, or in organs with a high fluid content, such as the lungs or urinary tract. Infections by this organism are becoming increasingly problematic due to the high number of resistance genes found in clinical isolates. Some strains are now resistant to all known antibiotics. Most of these genes appear to have been transferred horizontally from other organisms.