Query: NC_012633:169444 Rickettsia africae ESF-5, complete genome
Lineage: Rickettsia africae; Rickettsia; Rickettsiaceae; Rickettsiales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This organism was isolated from a cattle tick, Amblyomma variegatum, collected in Ethiopia. This organism, a member of the spotted fever group of the Rickettsiales, is found in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Rickettsia africae causes a flu-like illness, characterized by a mild fever and severe headache, without the skin rash common to other spotted fever group Rickettsia species. Members of this genus, like other Rickettsial organisms such as Neorickettsia and Anaplasma, are obligate intracellular pathogens. In both groups, the bacteria are transmitted via an insect, usually a tick, to a host organism 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.
Subject: NC_008146:1016446 Mycobacterium sp. MCS, complete genome
Lineage: Mycobacterium; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Mycobacterium MCS was isolated from soil in a wood preservative-contaminated land-treatment unit where remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) was occurring. This isolate mineralizes small- and large-ring PAHs, in contrast to other PAH-degrading microbes. Bioremediation of PAHs offers an attractive solution to pollution clean-up because it can occur on site and at relative little cost compared to alternatives. This isolate belongs to a fast-growing group of the mycobacterium genus that is defined as Gram-positive, acid-fast, pleomorphic, non-motile rods. Bioremediation of soils contaminated with wood preservatives containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is desired because of their toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic properties. Creosote wood preservative–contaminated soils at the Champion International Superfund Site in Libby, Montana currently undergo bioremediation in a prepared-bed land treatment unit (LTU) process.