Query: NC_011047:255208 Candidatus Phytoplasma mali, complete genome
Lineage: Phytoplasma mali; Phytoplasma; Acholeplasmataceae; Acholeplasmatales; Tenericutes; Bacteria
General Information: Candidatus Phytoplasma mali strain AT was collected in Heidelberg, Germany from a symptomatic apple tree. Candidatus Phytoplasma mali belongs to a group of mycoplasma-like organisms (Mollicutes) that infect plants and insects. This organism causes the economically significant apple proliferation disease in Europe. This disease is characterized by floral and phloem necrosis, wilting or general plant decline. Candidatus Phytoplasma mali can also infect cherry, apricot and plum trees.
Subject: NC_006142:33268 Rickettsia typhi str. Wilmington, complete genome
Lineage: Rickettsia typhi; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This genus, like other Rickettsial organisms such as Neorickettsia and Anaplasma, is composed of obligate intracellular pathogens. The latter is composed of two organisms, Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia typhi. The bacteria are transmitted via an insect, usually a tick, to a host organism, in this case humans, where they target endothelial cells and sometimes macrophages. They attach via an adhesin, rickettsial outer membrane protein A, and are internalized where they persist as cytoplasmically free organisms. Transovarial transmission (from mother to offspring) occurs in the invertebrate host. Rickettsia typhi causes murine typhus and is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects both the flea vector and hosts such as human, rat, and mouse. In the flea vector, the bacterium penetrates the gut epithelial barrier and is found in the feces which become infective.