Query: NC_009662:1285826 Nitratiruptor sp. SB155-2, complete genome
Lineage: Nitratiruptor; Nitratiruptor; Nautiliaceae; Nautiliales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the Iheya North field in the Mid-Okinawa Trough, Japan as part of a larger diversity study. This rod-shaped bacterium grows chemolithoautotrophically and can utilize a wide spectrum of electron donors and acceptors (i.e. hydrogen, sulfur compounds, nitrate and oxygen). It can occupy different ecological niches, and its metabolic versatility probably enables it to adapt to the geochemical variability in deep-sea hydrothermal environments.
Subject: NC_011896:2571232 Mycobacterium leprae Br4923, complete genome
Lineage: Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was isolated from a human skin biopsy in Brazil, and passaged in nude mice and armadillos. The bacterium is a close relative of M. tuberculosis. However, compared to the latter, the genome of M. leprae is smaller due to reductive genome evolution, with many important metabolic activities including siderophore production, part of the oxidative chain, most of the microaerophilic and anaerobic respiratory chains, and numerous catabolic systems and their regulatory circuits eliminated due to extensive recombination events between dispersed repetitive sequences. It is evident that this species has undergone massive genome reduction over time as a result of its parasitic nature, discarding more than half its genes and rendering it the most striking example of genome reduction in a microbial pathogen.