Query: NC_011244:94756 Borrelia recurrentis A1, complete genome Lineage: Borrelia recurrentis; Borrelia; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria General Information: Borrelia recurrentis isolated from adult patient with louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia. Borrelia recurrentis is the causative agent of louse-borne relapsing fever. Prior to World War II, this organism was responsible for large disease outbreaks with a mortality of up to 40% in much of the world. Currently this disease is limited to parts of Africa, China, and Peru. B. recurrentis is transmitted when infected human body lice (Pediculus humanus) are crushed and their fluids contaminate mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. Relapsing fever is characterized by a period of chills, fever, headache, and malaise, an asymptomatic period, followed by another episode of symptoms. This cycle of relapsing is due to changes in the surface proteins of Borrelia, which allow it to avoid detection and removal by the host immune system. This antigenic variation is the result of homologous recombination of silent proteins into an expressed locus, causing partial or complete replacement of one serotype with another.
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General Information: This strain is a virulent nonsporulating variant of strain Massachusetts used in vaccine production. Causes tetanus. This genus comprises about 150 metabolically diverse species of anaerobes that are ubiquitous in virtually all anoxic habitats where organic compounds are present, including soils, aquatic sediments and the intestinal tracts of animals and humans. This shape is attributed to the presence of endospores that develop under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth and distend single cells terminally or sub-terminally. Spores germinate under conditions favorable for vegetative growth, such as anaerobiosis and presence of organic substrates. It is believed that present day Mollicutes (Eubacteria) have evolved regressively (i.e., by genome reduction) from gram-positive clostridia-like ancestors with a low GC content in DNA. Known opportunistic toxin-producing pathogens in animals and humans. Some species are capable of producing organic solvents (acetone, ethanol, etc,), molecular hydrogen and other useful compounds. This organism causes tetanus (lockjaw) in humans. At the tissue level, the bacterium then releases an exotoxin called tetanospasmin that causes certain nervous system irregularities by means of retrograde tramsmission through neurons to the brain. If nervous impulses cannot be checked by normal inhibitory mechanisms, it produces the generalized muscular spasms characteristic of tetanus.