Query: NC_010741:12542 Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum SS14, complete genome
Lineage: Treponema pallidum; Treponema; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria
General Information: Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum SS14 was isolated in 1977 from a patient with secondary syphilis. This strain is less susceptible than the Nichols strain for a number of antibiotics. This organisms is divided into subspecies each of which causes a specific disease. 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.
Subject: NC_020134:205000 Clostridium stercorarium subsp. stercorarium DSM 8532, complete
Lineage: Clostridium stercorarium; Clostridium; unclassified Ruminococcaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria
General Information: Lignocellulosic biomass has great potential as an abundant and renewable source of fermentable sugars through enzymic saccharification. Clostridium stercorarium is a catabolically versatile bacterium producing a wide range of hydrolases for degradation of biomass. Together with Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium aldrichii and other cellulose degraders, it forms group I of the clostridia. It is moderately thermophilic, with an optimum growth temperature of 65 degrees C, and has repeatedly been isolated from self-heated compost. The two-component cellulase system of C. stercorarium has been investigated thoroughly. Due to its ability to utilize the various polysaccharides present in biomass it is especially suited for the fermentation of hemicellulose to organic solvents. Some isolates have been used in Japan in a single-step ethanol-fermenting pilot-process with lignocellulosic biomass as substrate.