Query: NC_013768:171889 Listeria monocytogenes 08-5923, complete genome
Lineage: Listeria monocytogenes; Listeria; Listeriaceae; Bacillales; Firmicutes; Bacteria
General Information: This organism, which causes listeriosis, is one of the leading causes of death from food-borne pathogens especially in pregnant women, newborns, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. It is found in environments such as decaying vegetable matter, sewage, water, and soil, and it can survive extremes of both temperatures (1-45 degrees C) and salt concentration marking it as an extremely dangerous food-born pathogen, especially on food that is not reheated. This organism is enteroinvasive, and utilizes an actin-based motility system by using a surface protein, ActA, that promotes actin polymerization, to spread intercellularly using the polymerized cytoskeletal protein as a "motor".
Subject: NC_010159:2955562 Yersinia pestis Angola, complete genome
Lineage: Yersinia pestis; Yersinia; Enterobacteriaceae; Enterobacteriales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: This strain was isolated prior to 1985 and belongs to the antiqua biovar. It can ferment rhamnonse and melibiose which is a property usually associated with Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. Strain Angola belongs to a group of atypical Yersinia pestis strains with genotypic similarities that are intermediate between Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberuclosis strains. Genotypic studies indicate that strain Angola is the oldest Y. pestis strain analyzed to date. It carries three plasmids that are similar to other Y. pestis plasmids but have aberrant sizes. The critical virulence factor, the V antigen, is different than that encoded by typical strains of Y. pestis and there is a deletion that affects the F1 operon. Strain Angola has been shown to be virulent by aerosol in mice.