Pre_GI: SWBIT SVG BLASTP

Query: NC_008380:4078670 Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841, complete genome

Lineage: Rhizobium leguminosarum; Rhizobium; Rhizobiaceae; Rhizobiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria

General Information: This biovar nodulates legumes in the Tribe Viciae (Vicia, Pisum, Lathyrus, Lens). This strain is a spontaneous streptomycin-resistant mutant of strain 300. Nitrogen-fixing plant symbiont. This organism, like other Rhizobia, establishes a symbiotic relationship with a legume plant, providing nitrogen in exchange for a protected environment. The legume roots secrete flavonoids and isoflavonoids which the bacteria recognize and use to turn on genes involved in root nodulation. Many of the root nodulation genes are involved in synthesis and secretion of a nodule inducing signal, a lipochito-oligosaccharide molecule, which the plant recognizes, triggering nodule formation. The bacterium is endocytosed and exists inside a membrane bound organelle, the symbiosome, and fixes nitrogen for the plant cell while the host cell provides carbon compounds for the bacterium to grow on. The nitrogen fixation is important as it obviates the need for expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizer use.

Subject: NC_011025:183287 Mycoplasma arthritidis 158L3-1, complete genome

Lineage: Mycoplasma arthritidis; Mycoplasma; Mycoplasmataceae; Mycoplasmatales; Tenericutes; Bacteria

General Information: This organism causes arthritis in both rats and mice. Strains of Mycoplasma arthritidis can be virulent or avirulent depending, in part, on the presence of the MAV1 bacteriophage. This genus currently comprizes more than 120 obligate parasitic species found in the wide spectrum of hosts, including humans, animals, insects and plants. The primary habitats of human and animal mycoplasmas are mucouse membranes of the respiratory and urogenital tracts, eyes, mammary glands and the joints. Infection that proceeds through attachment of the bacteria to the host cell via specialized surface proteins, adhesins, and subsequent invation, results in prolonged intracellular persistence that may cause lethality. Once detected in association with their eukaryotic host tissue, most of mycoplasmas can be cultivated in the absence of a host if their extremely fastidious growth requirements are met.